Mordecai, upon learning of a decree threatening the Jews, publicly expressed his grief by tearing his clothes and wearing sackcloth and ashes, crying out loudly in the city. His profound mourning reflected a shared sorrow among the Jewish community, prompting Esther, the queen, to respond with concern. This event highlighted the desperate situation faced by the Jewish people and their communal agony over the impending threat from Haman's edict.

1. ESTHER 4 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help
1 When Mordecai learned of all that had been
done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and
ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly
and bitterly.
CLARKE, "Mordecai rent his clothes - He gave every demonstration of the most
poignant and oppressive grief. Nor did he hide this from the city; and the Greek says that
he uttered these words aloud: Αιρεται εθνος µηδεν ηδικηκος, A people are going to be
destroyed, who have done no evil!
GILL, "When Mordecai perceived all that was done,.... By the king, at the
instigation of Haman, against the Jews; which he came to the knowledge of, either by
some of the conflicts or by common fame, or on the sight of the edicts which were
published in Shushan; though the Jews think it was made known to him in a
supernatural way, either by Elijah, as the former Targum (x), or by the Holy Ghost, as
the latter:
Mordecai rent his clothes: both behind and before, according to the same Targum;
and this was a custom used in mourning, not only with the Jews, but with the Persians
also, as Herodotus (y) relates:
and put on sackcloth with ashes; upon his head, as the former Targum; which was
usual in mourning, even both; Job_2:12
and went out into the midst of the city; not Elam the province, as Aben Ezra, but
the city Shushan:
and cried with a loud and bitter cry; that all the Jews in the city might be alarmed
by it, and inquire the reason of it, and be affected with it; and a clamorous mournful
noise was used among the Persians, as well as others, on sad occasions (z).

2. HE RY 1-4, "Here we have an account of the general sorrow that there was among
the Jews upon the publishing of Haman's bloody edict against them. It was a sad time
with the church. 1. Mordecai cried bitterly, rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth, Est_
4:1, Est_4:2. He not only thus vented his grief, but proclaimed it, that all might take
notice of it that he was not ashamed to own himself a friend to the Jews, and a fellow-
sufferer with them, their brother and companion in tribulation, how despicable and how
odious soever they were now represented by Haman's faction. It was nobly done thus
publicly to espouse what he knew to be a righteous cause, and the cause of God, even
when it seemed a desperate and a sinking cause. Mordecai laid the danger to heart more
than any because he knew that Haman's spite was against him primarily, and that it was
for his sake that the rest of the Jews were struck at; and therefore, though he did not
repent of what some would call his obstinacy, for he persisted in it (Est_5:9), yet it
troubled him greatly that his people should suffer for his scruples, which perhaps
occasioned some of them to reflect upon him as too precise. But, being able to appeal to
God that what he did he did from a principle of conscience, he could with comfort
commit his own cause and that of his people to him that judgeth righteously. God will
keep those that are exposed by the tenderness of their consciences. Notice is here taken
of a law that none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth; though the
arbitrary power of their kings often, as now, set many a mourning, yet none must come
near the king in a mourning dress, because he was not willing to hear the complaints of
such. Nothing but what was gay and pleasant must appear at court, and every thing that
was melancholy must be banished thence; all in king's palaces wear soft clothing (Mat_
11:8), not sackcloth. But thus to keep out the badges of sorrow, unless they could withal
have kept out the causes of sorrow - to forbid sackcloth to enter, unless they could have
forbidden sickness, and trouble, and death to enter - was jest. However this obliged
Mordecai to keep his distance, and only to come before the gate, not to take his place in
the gate. 2. All the Jews in every province laid it much to heart, Est_4:3. They denied
themselves the comfort of their tables (for they fasted and mingled tears with their meat
and drink), and the comfort of their beds at night, for they lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Those who for want of confidence in God, and affection to their own land, has staid in
the land of their captivity, when Cyrus gave them liberty to be gone, now perhaps
repented of their folly, and wished, when it was too late, that they had complied with the
call of God. 3. Esther the queen, upon a general intimation of the trouble Mordecai was
in, was exceedingly grieved, v. 4. Mordecai's grief was hers, such a respect did she still
retain for him; and the Jews' danger was her distress; for, though a queen, she forgot not
her relation to them. Let not the greatest think it below them to grieve for the affliction
of Joseph, though they themselves be anointed with the chief ointments, Amo_6:6.
Esther sent change of raiment to Mordecai, the oil of joy for mourning and the
garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; but because he would make her sensible
of the greatness of his grief, and consequently of the cause of it, he received it not, but
was as one that refused to be comforted.
JAMISO , "Est_4:1-14. Mordecai and the Jews mourn.
When Mordecai perceived all that was done — Relying on the irrevocable
nature of a Persian monarch’s decree (Dan_6:15), Haman made it known as soon as the
royal sanction had been obtained; and Mordecai was, doubtless, among the first to hear
of it. On his own account, as well as on that of his countrymen, this astounding decree
must have been indescribably distressing. The acts described in this passage are,
according to the Oriental fashion, expressive of the most poignant sorrow; and his

3. approach to the gate of the palace, under the impulse of irrepressible emotions, was to
make an earnest though vain appeal to the royal mercy. Access, however, to the king’s
presence was, to a person in his disfigured state, impossible: “for none might enter into
the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.” But he found means of conveying intelligence of
the horrid plot to Queen Esther.
K&D, "Mordochai learnt all that was done, - not only what had been openly
proclaimed, but, as is shown by Est_4:7, also the transaction between the king and
Haman. Then he rent his garments, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the
midst of the city, making loud and bitter lamentation. Comp. on the last words, Gen_
27:34. The combination of ‫ר‬ ֶ‫פ‬ ֵ‫א‬ with ‫ק‬ ַ‫שׂ‬ ‫שׁ‬ ַ ְ‫ל‬ִ‫י‬ is an abbreviation for: put on a hairy
garment and spread ashes upon his head, in sign of deep grief; comp. Dan_9:3; Job_
2:12, and elsewhere.
BE SO , "Esther 4:1. And put on sackcloth with ashes — That is, he put on a
garment of sackcloth or hair, and sprinkled ashes upon his head. And cried with a
loud and bitter cry — To express his deep sense of the mischief coming upon his
people. It was bravely done thus publicly to espouse what he knew to be a righteous
cause, and the cause of God, even then when it seemed to be a sinking and desperate
cause. The latter Targum upon the book of Esther gives us the following account of
Mordecai’s behaviour upon this sad occasion: “He made his complaints in the midst
of the streets, saying, ‘What a heavy decree is this, which the king and Haman have
passed, not against a part of us, but against us all, to root us out of the earth!’
Whereupon all the Jews flocked about him, and, having caused the book of the law
to be brought to the gate of Shushan, he, being covered with sackcloth, read the
words of Deuteronomy 4:30-31, and then exhorted them to fasting, humiliation, and
repentance, after the example of the inevites.”
COFFMA , "Verse 1
THE ISRAEL OF GOD I SACKCLOTH; ASHES; A D TEARS
The last verse of the previous chapter mentioned that the city of Susa was
perplexed. "Although the Jews certainly had enemies in Susa, the majority of the
Persians were Zoroastrians, and were likely to sympathize with the Jews. There
might also have been other national groups in Persia who would have been alarmed
and apprehensive at the king's decision to slaughter all the Jews."[1] Some might
have been fearful that their group might be next. It must have been a major shock to
the Persian capital when the king's decree became known.
The Jews throughout the whole Persian empire at once exhibited their grief, alarm,
mourning and fear, in much the same manner as did Mordecai.
MORDECAI LEAR S ALL THAT WAS DO E
" ow when Mordecai knew 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

4. and a bitter cry; and he came even before the king's gate; for none might enter the
king's gate clothed with sackcloth. 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."
This great mourning prevailed in every province of the vast empire, including
Jerusalem and Judaea of course. Although the name of God is not mentioned in
Esther, this outpouring of grief on the part of the Chosen People was nothing at all
unless it was an appeal for God's intervention to save his people from their
threatened destruction. The sackcloth and ashes were universally recognized as
signs of extreme grief and distress. "Either sackcloth or ashes was a sign of deep
mourning; but both together were indications of the most distressing grief
possible."[2]
"All the Jews throughout Persia broke out into mourning, weeping, and
lamentations, while many of them exhibited their mourning as did Mordecai."[3]
Mordecai's purpose for such a visible demonstration of his mourning was to alert
Esther that something was terribly wrong and to get the truth of the situation and
its seriousness to Esther.
COKE, "Verse 1
Esther 4:1. Mordecai rent his clothes, &c.— The latter Targum, upon the book of
Esther, gives us the following account of Mordecai's behaviour upon this sad
occasion: "He made his complaint in the midst of the streets, saying, What a heavy
decree is this, which the king and Haman have passed, not against a part of us, but
against us all, to root us out of the earth! Whereupon all the Jews flocked about
him, and, having caused the book of the law to be brought to the gate of Shushan,
he, being covered with sackcloth, read the words of Deuteronomy 4:30-31 and then
exhorted them to fasting, humiliation, and repentance, after the example of the
inevites.
ELLICOTT, "(1) Mordecai rent his clothes.—This was a common sign of sorrow
among Eastern nations generally. It will be noticed that the sorrow both of
Mordecai and of the Jews generally (Esther 4:3) is described by external
manifestations solely. There is rending of garments, putting on of sackcloth and
ashes, fasting and weeping and wailing: there is nothing said of prayer and entreaty
to the God of Israel, and strong crying to Him who is able to save. Daniel and Ezra
and ehemiah are all Jews, who, like Mordecai and Esther, have to submit to the
rule of the alien, though, unlike them, they, when the danger threatened, besought,
and not in vain, the help of their God. (See Daniel 6:10; Ezra 8:23; ehemiah 1:4,
&c.)
TRAPP, "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;
Ver. 1. When Mordecai perceived all that was done] Mαθων το γινοµενον, saith

5. Josephus, when he had learned or fully informed himself, so that he knew it to be so,
as the Hebrew text hath it (Jadang.). Solicitous he was of the Church’s welfare, and
sat listening, as Eli did once, what would become of the ark, 1 Samuel 3:13. ow
therefore, as ill news is swift of foot, saith Sophocles, αι βλαβαι ποδωκεις, and comes
like ill weather, before it be sent for, Mordecai taketh knowledge of that bloody
decree, though Esther and those about her had not heard of it, Esther 4:4-5. either
sitteth he still at home, as desponding and despairing, or seeketh by sinister
practices to help himself and his people, but applieth himself, first, to God, by
hearty humiliation and prayer; and then to the king, by the intercession of Esther. A
carnal heart would have taken other shifting courses, like as a dog that hath lost his
master will follow after any other for relief.
Mordecai rent his clothes] To show that his very heart was rent with sorrow for
Sion. This custom of rending their clothes in time and in token of greatest grief, was
in use not among the Jews only, but Persians also, and other nations, as is noted by
Herodotus and Curtius.
And put on sackcloth] The coarsest clothing he could get; as holding any clothes too
good for so vile a captive, and showing that but for shame he would have worn none.
So the ine vites sat in sackcloth and ashes, for more humiliation. See Exodus 33:4,
&c.
And ashes] He put on ashes or dust, that is, a dusty garment sprinkled with ashes,
saith Drusius, putting his mouth in the dust, as Lamentations 3:29, acknowledging
himself to be of the earth earthy, and fit fuel for hell fire, on e foco, sed e terra
desumptum pulverem notat (Merlin).
And went out into the midst of the city] That he might be a pattern to others. Si vis
me flere, &c.
And cried with a loud and a bitter cry] More barbarico, after the manner of that
country; but there was more in it than so. It was not his own danger that so much
affected him (how gladly could he have wished, with Ambrose, that God would
please to turn all the adversaries from the Church upon himself, and let them satisfy
their thirst with his blood? Oτι µηδεν αδικησον εθνος αναιρειται, Joseph.) as that so
many innocent people should perish. This made him lift up his voice unto God on
high.
WHEDO , "1. Mordecai rent his clothes — The customary sign of bitter grief. See
2 Samuel 1:11, note. A like sign was also the putting on of sackcloth sad sitting in
ashes, (Job 2:8; Jonah 3:6,) or sprinkling ashes upon the head. Mordecai also, in
expression of his most intense agony, cried with a loud and a bitter cry. Compare

6. Genesis 27:34. Similar exhibitions of grief were customary with the Persians. When
tidings of Xerxes’ defeat at Salamis reached Shushan all the people “rent their
garments and uttered unbounded shouts and lamentations.” — Herod., 8:99.
CO STABLE, "C. Mordecai"s Reaction4:1-3
We can understand why Mordecai reacted to Haman"s decree so strongly ( Esther
4:1). Undoubtedly he felt personally responsible for this decree (cf. Esther 3:2-5).
However, we should not interpret Mordecai"s actions in Esther 4:1 as a sign of
great faith in God necessarily (cf. Mark 5:38; 1 Thessalonians 4:13). They were
common expressions of personal grief (cf. Ezra 8:21; Ezra 8:23; ehemiah 9:1;
Lamentations 3:40-66).
The absence of any reference to prayer in Esther 4:3 may be significant. Prayer
normally accompanied the other practices mentioned (cf. 2 Kings 19:1-4; Joel 1:14).
Perhaps many of these exiled Jews had gotten so far away from God that they did
not even pray in this crisis hour. However, the basis of this argument is silence, and
arguments based on silence are never strong.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY
QUEE ESTHER
Esther 4:1-5;, Esther 7:1-4;, Esther 9:12-13
THE young Jewess who wins the admiration of the Persian king above all the
chosen maidens of his realm, and who then delivers her people in the crisis of
supreme danger at the risk of her own life, is the central figure in the story of the
origin of Purim. It was a just perception of the situation that led to the choice of her
name as the title of the book that records her famous achievements, Esther first
appears as an obscure orphan who has been brought up in the humble home of her
cousin Mordecai. After her guardian has secured her admission to the royal harem-
a doubtful honour we might think, but a very real honour in the eyes of an ancient
Oriental-she receives a year’s training with the use of the fragrant unguents that are
esteemed so highly in a voluptuous Eastern court. We should not expect to see
anything better than the charms of physical beauty after such a process of
development, charms not of the highest type-languid, luscious, sensuous. The new
name bestowed on this finished product of the chief art cultivated in the palace of
Ahasuerus points to nothing higher, for "Esther" (Istar) is the name of a
Babylonian goddess equivalent to the Greek "Aphrodite." And yet our Esther is a
heroine-capable, energetic, brave, and patriotic. The splendour of her career is seen
in this very fact, that she does not succumb to the luxury of her surroundings. The
royal harem among the lily-beds of Shushan is like a palace in the land of the lotus-
eaters, "where it is always afternoon," and its inmates, in their dreamy indolence,
are tempted to forget all obligations and interests beyond the obligation to please the
king and their own interest in securing every comfort wealth can lavish on them. We

7. do not look for a Boadicea in such a hot-house of narcotics. And when we find there
a strong, unselfish woman such as Esther, conquering almost insuperable
temptations to a life of ease, and choosing a course of terrible danger to herself for
the sake of her oppressed people, we can echo the admiration of the Jews for their
national heroine.
It is a woman, then, who plays the leading part in this drama of Jewish history.
From Eve to Mary, women have repeatedly appeared in the most prominent places
on the pages of Scripture.
The history of Israel finds some of its most powerful situations in the exploits of
Deborah, Jael, and Judith. On the side of evil, Delilah, Athaliah, and Jezebel are not
less conspicuous. There was a freedom enjoyed by the women of Israel that was not
allowed in the more elaborate civilisation of the great empires of the East, and this
developed an independent spirit and a vigour not usually seen in Oriental women.
In the case of Esther these good qualities were able to survive the external restraints
and the internal relaxing atmosphere of her court life. The scene of her story is laid
in the harem. The plots and intrigues of the harem furnish its principal incidents.
Yet if Esther had been a shepherdess from the mountains of Judah, she could not
have proved herself more energetic. But her court life had taught her skill in
diplomacy, for she had to pick her way among the greatest dangers like a person
walking among concealed knives.
The beauty of Esther’s character is this, that she is not spoiled by her great
elevation. To be the one favourite out of all the select maidens of the kingdom, and
to know that she owes her privileged position solely to the king’s fancy for her
personal charms, might have spoilt the grace of a simple Jewess. Haman, we saw,
was ruined by his honours becoming too great for his self control. But in Esther we
do not light on a trace of the silly vanity that became the most marked characteristic
of the grand vizier. It speaks well for Mordecai’s sound training of the orphan girl
that his ward proved to be of stable character where a weaker person would have
been dizzy with selfish elation.
The unchanged simplicity of Esther’s character’ is first apparent in her submissive
obedience to her guardian even after her high position has been attained. Though
she is treated as his Queen by the Great King, she does not forget the kind porter
who has brought her up from childhood. In the old days she had been accustomed to
obey this grave Jew, and she has no idea of throwing off the yoke now that he has no
longer any recognised power over her. The habit of obedience persists in her after
the necessity for it has been removed. This would no have been so remarkable if
Esther had been weak-minded woman, readily subdued and kept in subjection by a
masterful will. But her energy and courage at a momentous crisis entirely forbid
any such estimate of her character. It must have been genuine humility and
unselfishness that prevented her from rebelling against the old home authority when
a heavy injunction was laid upon her. She undertakes the dangerous part of the
champion of a threatened race solely at the instance of Mordecai. He urges the duty
upon her, and she accepts it meekly. She is no rough Amazon. With all her greatness

8. and power, she is still a simple, unassuming woman.
But when Esther has assented to the demands of Mordecai, she appears in her
people’s cause with the spirit of true patriotism. She scorns to forget her humble
origin in all the splendour of her later advancement. She will own her despised and
hated people before the king, she will plead the cause of the oppressed, though at the
risk of her life. She is aware of the danger of her undertaking, but she says, "If I
perish. I perish." The habit of obedience could not have been strong enough to carry
her through the terrible ordeal if Mordecai’s hard requirement had not been
seconded by the voice of her own conscience. She knows that it is right that she
should undertake this difficult and dangerous work. How naturally might she have
shrunk back with regret for the seclusion and obscurity of the old days when her
safety lay in her insignificance? But she saw that her new privileges involved new
responsibilities. A royal harem is the last place in which we should look for the
recognition of this truth. Esther is to be honoured because even in that palace of idle
luxury she could acknowledge the stern obligation that so many in her position
would never have glanced at. It is always difficult to perceive and act on the
responsibility that certainly accompanies favour and power. This difficulty is one
reason why "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God." For while unusual prosperity brings
unusual responsibility, simply because it affords unusual opportunities for doing
good, it tends to cultivate pride and selfishness, and the miserable worldly spirit that
is fatal to all high endeavour and all real sacrifice. Our Lord’s great principle,
"Unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required," is clear as a
mathematical axiom when we look at it in the abstract, but nothing is harder than
for people to apply it to their own cases. If it were freely admitted, the ambition that
grasps at the first places would be shamed into silence. If it were generally acted on,
the wide social cleft between the fortunate and the miserable would be speedily
bridged over. The total ignoring, of this tremendous principle by the great majority
of those who enjoy the privileged positions in society is undoubtedly one of the chief
causes of the ominous unrest that is growing more and more disturbing in the less
favoured ranks of life. If this supercilious contempt for an imperative duty
continues, what can be the end but an awful retribution? Was it not the wilful
blindness of the dancers in the Tuileries to the misery of the serfs on the fields that
caused revolutionary France to run red with blood?
Esther was wise in taking the suggestion of her cousin that she had been raised up
for the very purpose of saving her people. Here was a faith, reserved and reticent,
but real and powerful. It was no idle chance that had tossed her on the crest of the
wave while so many of her sisters were weltering in the dark floods beneath. A clear,
high purpose was leading her on to a strange and mighty destiny, and now the
destiny was appearing, sublime and terrible, like some awful mountain peak that
must be climbed unless the soul that has come thus far will turn traitor and fall
back into failure and ignominy. When Esther saw this, she acted on it with the
promptitude of the founder of her nation, who esteemed "the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt," but with this difference, that, while
Moses renounced his high rank in Pharaoh’s court in order to identify himself with

9. his people, the Queen of Ahasuerus retained her perilous position and turned it to
good account in her saving mission. Thus there are two ways in which an exalted
person may serve others. He may come down from his high estate like Moses, like
Christ who was rich and for our sakes became poor, or he may take advantage of
his privileged position to use it for the good of his brethren, regarding it as a trust to
be held for those whom he can benefit, like Joseph, who was able in this way to save
his father and his brothers from famine, and like Esther in the present case.
Circumstances will guide the willing to a decision as to which of these courses
should be chosen.
We must not turn from this subject without remembering that Mordecai plied
Esther with other considerations besides the thought of her mysterious destiny. He
warned her that she should not escape if she disowned her people. He expressed his
confidence that if she shrank from her high mission deliverance would "come from
another place," to her eternal shame. Duty is difficult, and there is often a call for
the comparatively lower, because more selfish, considerations that urge to it. The
reluctant horse requires the spur. And yet the noble courage of Esther could not
have come chiefly from fear or any other selfish motive. It must have been a sense of
her high duty and wonderful destiny that inspired her. There is no inspiration like
that of the belief that we are called to a great mission. This is the secret of the
fanatical heroism of the Madhist dervishes. In a more holy warfare it makes heroes
of the weakest.
Having once accepted her dreadful task, Esther proceeded to carry it out with
courage. It was a daring act for her to enter the presence of the king unsummoned.
Who could tell but that the fickle monarch might take offence at the presumption of
his new favourite, as he had done in the case of her predecessor? Her lonely position
might have made the strongest of women quail as she stepped forth from her
seclusion and ventured to approach her lord. Her motive might be shamefully
misconstrued by the low-minded monarch. Would the king hold out the golden
sceptre to her? The chances of life and death hung on the answer to that question.
ehemiah, though a courageous man and a favourite of his royal master, was filled
with apprehension at the prospect of a far less dangerous interview with a much
more reasonable ruler than the half-mad Xerxes. These Oriental autocrats were
shrouded in the terror of divinities. Their absolute power left the lives of all who
approached them at the mercy of their caprice. Ahasuerus had just sanctioned a
senseless, bloodthirsty decree. Very possibly he had murdered Vashti, and that on
the offence of a moment. Esther was in favour, but she belonged to the doomed
people, and she was committing an illegal action deliberately in the face of the king.
She was Fatima risking the wrath of Bluebeard. We know how ehemiah would
have acted at this trying moment. He would have strengthened his heart with one of
those sudden ejaculations of prayer that were always ready to spring to his lips on
any emergency. It is not in accordance with the secular tone of the story of Esther’s
great undertaking that any hint of such an action on her part should have been
given. Therefore we cannot say that she was a woman of no religion, that she was
prayerless, that she launched on this great enterprise entirely relying on her own
strength. We must distinguish between reserve and coldness in regard to religion.

10. The fire burns while the heart muses. even though the lips are still. At all events, if it
is the intention of the writer to teach that Esther was mysteriously raised up for the
purpose of saving her people, it is a natural inference to conclude that she was
supported in the execution of it by unseen and silent aid. Her name does not appear
in the honour roll of Hebrews 11:1-40. We cannot assert that she acted in the
strength of faith. And yet there is more evidence of faith, even though it is not
professed, in conduct that is true and loyal, brave and unselfish, than we can find in
the loudest profession of a creed without the confirmation of corresponding
conduct. "I will show my faith by my works," says St. James, and he may show it
without once naming it.
It is to be noted, further, that Esther was a woman of resources. She did not trust to
her courage alone to secure her end. It was not enough that she owned her people,
and was willing to plead their cause. She had the definite purpose of saving them to
effect. She was not content to be a martyr to patriotism; a sensible, practical woman,
she did her utmost to be successful in effecting the deliverance of the threatened
Jews. With this end in view, it was necessary for her to proceed warily. Her first
step was gained when she had secured an audience with the king. We may surmise
that her beautiful countenance was lit up with a new, rare radiance when all self-
seeking was banished from her mind and an intense, noble aim fired her soul, and
thus, it may be, her very loftiness of purpose helped to secure its success. Beauty is a
gift, a talent, to be used for good, like any other Divine endowment; the highest
beauty is the splendour of soul that sometimes irradiates the most commonplace
countenance, so that, like Stephen’s, it shines as the face of an angel. Instead of
degrading her beauty with foolish vanity, Esther consecrated it to a noble service,
and thereby it was glorified. This one talent was not lodged with her useless.
The first point was gained in securing the favour of Ahasuerus. But all was not yet
won. It would have been most unwise for Esther to have burst out with her daring
plea for the condemned people in the moment of the king’s surprised welcome. But
she was patient and skilful in managing her delicate business. She knew the king’s
weakness for good living, and she played upon it for her great purpose. Even when
she had got him to a first banquet, she did not venture to bring out her request.
Perhaps her courage failed her at the last moment. Perhaps, like a keen, observant
woman, she perceived that she had not yet wheedled the king round to the condition
in which it would be safe to approach the dangerous topic. So she postponed her
attempt to another day and a second banquet. Then she seized her opportunity.
With great tact, she began by pleading for her own life. Her piteous entreaty
amazed the dense-minded monarch. At the same time the anger of his pride was
roused. Who would dare to touch his favourite queen? It was a well-chosen moment
to bring such a notion into the mind of a king who was changeable as a child. We
may be sure that Esther had been doing her very best to please him throughout the
two banquets. Then she had Haman on the spot. He, too, prime minister of Persia as
he was, had to find that for once in his life he had been outwitted by a woman.
Esther meant to strike while the iron was hot. So the arch-enemy of her people was
there, that the king might carry out the orders to which she was skilfully leading
him on without the delay which would give the party of Haman an opportunity to

11. turn him the other way. Haman saw it all in a moment. He confessed that the queen
was mistress of the situation by appealing to her for mercy, in the frenzy of his
terror even so far forgetting his place as to fling himself on her couch. That only
aggravated the rage of the jealous king. Haman’s fate was sealed on the spot.,
Esther was completely triumphant.
After this it is painful to see how the woman who had saved her people at the risk of
her own life pushed her advantage to the extremity of a bloodthirsty vengeance. It is
all very well to say that, as the laws of the Medes and Persians could not be altered,
there was no alternative but a defensive slaughter. We may try to shelter Esther
under the customs of the times; we may call to mind the fact that she was acting on
the advice of Mordecai, whom she had been taught to obey from childhood, so that
his was by far the greater weight of responsibility. Still, as we gaze on the portrait of
the strong, brave, unselfish Jewess, we must confess that beneath all the beauty and
nobility of its expression certain hard lines betray the fact that Esther is not a
Madonna, that the heroine of the Jews does not reach the Christian ideal of
womanhood.
PARKER, ""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 4:1).
That is all we can do sometimes. Speech is useless, words are a mockery; the soul is
filled with woe. It is not unmanly, it is not weakness; it is indeed an aspect of human
greatness; it is man seeking after the ineffable, the eternal, the infinite,—crying
where he cannot speak, for a cry is more eloquent than a sentence. All who have
known the bitterness of life have been in this very condition in some degree. When
poverty has been in every room in the house, when affliction is a familiar guest,
when disappointment comes like a crown of thorns upon the head of every day,
what if even strong solid men express themselves in a loud and bitter cry? Mordecai
had, however, something left; he said, I must work through my relative; Esther the
queen must come to my deliverance now, and through me to the deliverance of the
whole people in this foreign land. So he began communications with the queen; the
queen explained and hesitated, pointed out the difficulties, but Mordecai would hear
nothing of difficulty. He made a grand appeal to her:
"Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king"s house, more than all the
Jews. 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" ( Esther 4:13-14).
We have anticipated the speech. How nobly it is argued; how pathetically it is
uttered! The man was shut up to one course. There are times when we are
dependent upon one life: if this fail, God fails. Who does not know something of this
experience, when ingenuity is baffled, when invention can go no farther, and yet
there is just one thing that may be tried, that must be tried? These are the
circumstances which test character; these are the circumstances, too, which test our

12. friends. We only know our friends when we are in extremity. This is Christ"s own
test of character. He said, "I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat"; in other
words, I was in extremity, and my extremity was your opportunity. This is precisely
the reasoning of Mordecai. The Jews were an hungered, and they pined for the
meat—the bread, the water, of fraternal sympathy. There are times when we must
risk everything upon a last effort. Are there not some of us who have risked
nothing? In crises we know what men are. Mordecai"s religious confidence
triumphed. He was a Jew of the right type; he said enlargement and deliverance
should arise from another quarter: God would not forsake his people; he has
himself punished them, but in all God"s correction there is measure: it is impossible
that Hainan"s murderous policy can succeed. There are times when men leap in
their inspiration; they become majestic through moral conviction, they feel that
things are not handed over to a wicked hand. Though the night be dark, and the
wind be loud and cold, and friends there may seem to be none, yet through that very
darkness deliverance will come, and the world will be wrested from the clutches of
the devil.
Then came the sublime personal appeal—
"And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
( Esther 4:14).
ow we may have explanation. "We wondered why thou shouldest have been
chosen to be queen in place of Vashti; others appeared to be more beautiful than
thou, but by some means, not then explicable, thou wast brought to the kingdom:
now the explanation is at hand." God discovers himself by surprises. For a long time
all things proceed monotonously, even wearisomely, and quite suddenly we begin to
put things together, and to shape them, until they become pillars, arches, houses,
sanctuaries; then we say, This was the meaning of it all: the darkness is gone, the
light shineth, and behold God, even invisibleness, is at hand, so that we can lay our
hand upon him, fall down before him, and bless his all-sufficient and reverent name.
This hope nerves the weakest; this hope reveals the depths of the human
constitution. Are there not crises in which we are all placed? What have you your
wealth for? What a trial is prosperity! Why was it given to you? That you might
make every good cause prosper; that you might make every way easy along which
the kingdom of heaven was passing; that there might be no crying in your streets.
Your wealth was given to satisfy the cry of need, to bless the cause of honesty. How
dare you go to bed with all that gold in the coffer? For what was your power given?
not to gratify your ambition, not to make you a name amongst men; but that you
might threaten the enemy, undo heavy burdens, smite the tyrant, and speak
comfortably to every brave man who is working under arduous and trying
circumstances. Who dare bear his power simply as a decoration? For what was your
education given to you? That you might be a light in darkness, a teacher of the
ignorant, a friend to those who have had no such advantages as you have enjoyed.
You were not educated that you might chatter in polysyllables, astound human
ignorance by an information which it could never test; you were educated in the
providence of God that you might help every man to learn the alphabet, to spell the

13. name of God, to make out the gospel of Christ. "Who knoweth whether thou art
come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" If men had understanding of the
times, saw their opportunities, rose to the occasion, in the spirit of Christ, in the
spirit of the cross of Christ, they would make the world feel how true are Christ"s
words: "Ye are the salt of the earth.... Ye are the light of the world.... Ye are a city
set on a hill." Christ Jesus the Son of God always calls men to help others, to deliver
the oppressed, to undo heavy burdens that are too grievous to be borne. In going
forward to such work as that we are obeying Christ"s command when he
said—"Follow me."
LA GE, "The author manifestly desires to show in this chapter how very difficult it
was for Mordecai to make even the one effort to save his people from destruction.
But he was faithful and persistent; taking step after step until the object was
attained. He here entered a conflict which was forced upon him, and which he was
unable to avert. But thereby lie ran the greatest danger both for himself and for
Esther, whom he required to assist. him. Three separate endeavors are recorded by
our author as made on the part of Mordecai in order to involve Esther in this
conflict. The first was preparatory, being designed simply to establish a connection
with her; of the second the only result was the objections raised by Esther; and in
the third she expressed her willingness and her resignation to a possible fate.
Esther 4:1-5. Here is described the first step. The first thing Mordecai did was to
take a leading part in the general sorrow of the Jews. Thereby he attracted the
attention of Esther, and induced her not only to send him other garments than those
of mourning, but also to send a confidential messenger through whom he could
communicate with her. Esther 4:1. “When Mordecai perceived all that was done.—
As is told us in Esther 4:7. Mordecai was even informed as to the sum of money
which Haman expected to obtain by destroying the Jews. Possibly some of Haman’s
intimate friends heard of it and spoke of it in the king’s gate where Mordecai could
hear it. Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, i. e., a garment
of hair cloth, and with the same also put on ashes, by strewing ashes over his person
and clothing (comp. Daniel 9:3; Job 2:12).[F 4]And went out into the midst of the
city.—He did not conceal the fact that he was in deep distress, and cried with a loud
and bitter cry; literally, occurs in Genesis 27:34 with reference to Esau.
PULPIT, "MOUR I G OF MORDECAI, A D OF THE JEWS GE ERALLY,
O HEARI G OF THE DECREE (Esther 4:1-17 1-3). Haman had no doubt kept
his intentions secret until the king's consent to them was not only granted, but
placed beyond his power to recall The Jews first heard of the terrible blow
impending over them by the publication of the edict. Then they became acquainted
with it quickly enough. The edict was for a while the talk of the town. Placarded
openly in some conspicuous and frequented place, every loiterer read it, every gossip
spoke of it, every one whom it threatened could with his own eyes see its exact terms.
Mordecai soon "perceived all that was done" (Esther 4:1)—perused the edict,
understood whence it had originated, was fully aware that he himself and his whole
nation stood in the most awful peril. His first impulse was to rend his garments and
put on sackcloth and ashes; after which he quitted the environs of the palace, and

14. "went out into the midst of the city," where he gave free vent to his grief and alarm,
"crying with a loud and bitter cry." The signs of mourning were not permitted
within the walls of the royal residence, and Mordecai could come no nearer than the
space before the gate, where he probably sat down in the dust "astonied" (see Ezra
9:4). or was he long alone in his sorrow. In every province—and therefore at Susa,
no less than elsewhere—"there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting,
and weeping, and wailing" (Esther 4:3). The proscribed race made bitter
lamentation—"lay in sackcloth and ashes," humbled itself before God, and waited.
As yet no thought of escape seems to have occurred to any, no resolution to have
been taken. Even Mordecai's thoughtful brain was paralysed, and, like the rest, he
gave himself up to grief.
Esther 4:1
Mordecai rent his clothes. Compare Ezra 9:3, Ezra 9:5 with the comment. The
meaning of the act was well understood by the Persians. Put on sackcloth with
ashes. So Daniel (Daniel 9:3), and the king of ineveh (Jonah 3:6). Either act by
itself was a sign of deep grief; both combined betokened the deepest grief possible.
And went out into the midst of the city. The palace was not to be saddened by
private griefs (see the next verse). Mordecai, therefore, having assumed the outward
signs of extreme sorrow, quitted the palace, and entered the streets of the town.
There, overcome by his feelings, he vented them, as Asiatics are wont to do, in loud
and piercing cries (comp. ehemiah 5:1).
BI, "When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on
sackcloth with ashes.
Mordecai’s grief
In the case of Mordecai, the first effect of the proclamation was bitter anguish, for his
conduct had been the flint out of which the spark leaped to kindle this portentous
conflagration. But Mordecai’s grief did not upset his judgment. The genuine sorrow of an
honest soul very seldom has that effect; and this man’s greatness comes out in his
deliberateness. Faith, too, as well as sound judgment, may be discerned under this good
man’s grief. (A. M. Symington, B. A.)
Mordecai in sackcloth
I. Mordecai was exceedingly affected at what the king had commanded (Est_4:1). See
the stirring benevolence of this man, the sweet philanthropy which dwelt in his soul, and
how deeply he felt the common calamity, which resulted from his own conscientious
doings. There is nothing new in the Lord’s people meeting with adversities and troubles
in this life. “Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of
their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” “As the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”
II. In the depth of his grief, Mordecai “came even before the king’s gate, clothed with
sack cloth” for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth (Est_4:2).
Amusements or diversions are one class of spiritual idols to which many of the sons of

15. men render homage. The wise man informs us that a scene of unbroken enjoyment is not
the best for the interest of the soul. “It is better to go to the house of mourning,” etc. “for
that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart.” Do as the saints of old did;
we never hear them saying, “I will rejoice in the world”; but “I will rejoice in the Lord,” “I
will rejoice in Thy salvation.” “In the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” “My soul shall
be joyful in my God: for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath
covered me with the robe of righteousness.”
III. Mordecai, though he could not enter within the king’s gate with his signals of
distress, went as near it as he dared to go, with the view of acquainting Esther, by means
of her attendants, with the impending danger. As soon as she heard of his mournful
habit, she sympathised with him, and sent him raiment instead of his sackcloth, that he
might resume his place. We cannot but admire two things which the grace of God had
wrought in this woman—her condescension and gratitude. She was now a queen.
Providence had placed her on the summit of worldly greatness, yet did she not disregard
one of her subjects in distress. She kindly inquired into the cause of his sorrow. Her
gratitude also was lovely. Mordecai had acted the part of a tender father towards her,
when she was cast a parentless child on the wide world. She does not now forget that
tenderness.
IV. Mordecai sent back to Esther tidings of the situation in which he, and she, and their
people were placed (verses 7, 8). Esther was now in a station, high and influential, and
she is here charged to use her influence on the side of right and justice, and against
oppression and tyranny. It is delightful to behold power thus employed! Power is a
mighty weapon, and effects great things either to the injury or benefit of the community.
V. Esther sent again to Mordecai, to tell him that she had not for a considerable period
been invited to the royal presence, and that to go uninvited was certain death.
VI. Notwithstanding what Esther said, Mordecai would by no means have her neglect
the work which he had assigned her (verses 13, 14). We learn a few particulars from
these words.
1. That Mordecai had a strong belief that God would interfere for His people in this
case.
2. That we are not to flinch from our duty by reason of the danger which we incur by
its performance. It is easy to walk in the way while it is smooth and easy, but it must
be walked in also when it is rough and thorny.
3. That the work of the Lord shall prosper, whether we endeavour to promote it or
otherwise. “Deliverance shall arise to the Jews from another place: but thou,” etc.
God is never at a loss for instruments to accomplish His will. If we neglect the
honour, He will make others willing to spend and to be spent in His service.
VII. We come now to Esther’s answer (verses 15, 16). Fasting and prayer were resorted
to on this occasion. Spiritually performed, they never fail of success. United prayer, as in
these cases, and in that of Peter, who was about to be killed by Herod, is omnipotent.
Like Esther, let us work and pray. These duties must ever be associated. To work without
praying is Pharisaism and presumption. To pray without working is insincerity and
hypocrisy. Like Mordecai, let us counsel others to do their duty, heedless of all temporal
consequences, and pray that they may have power from on high for its due
accomplishment. (J. Hughes.)

16. Anguish keenly felt
At first it would appear that he was so stunned, and almost stupefied, by the news, that
he knew not what to do. He was cast into the uttermost distress. He was like a vessel
struck by a cyclone. He would get to the use of efforts to meet the crisis by and by; but,
for the moment, when the hurricane first burst upon him, he could do nothing but give
way to the violence of the storm. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Great sorrow
I. Sorrow cannot be prevented. Sibbes says, “None ever hath been so good or so great as
could raise themselves so high as to be above the reach of troubles.” Thomas Watson
observes, “The present state of life is subject to afflictions, as a seaman’s life is subject to
storms. Man is born to trouble; he is heir-apparent to it; he comes into the world with a
cry and goes out with a groan.”
II. Sorrow cannot be explained. In its general aspect sin is the cause of sorrow. When we
come to particularise we find ourselves at fault. Eternity is the only true and complete
interpreter of time. Heavenly joys only can make plain the meaning of earthly sorrows.
III. Sorrow cannot be hidden. Emotion is as much part of our God-given nature as
intellect. The man who does not feel is a man with the better part of manhood destroyed.
Feeling must sooner or later find an expression. It is better not to hide our sorrows.
Trouble concealed is trouble increased.
IV. Sorrow cannot be confined. It passes from nature to nature; from home to home.
This community of feeling, this susceptibility to sorrow, speaks to us of our brotherhood.
We are members one of another.
V. But sorrow can be mitigated.
1. By believing that the threatened trouble may never come.
2. By believing that God knows how to effect a deliverance.
3. By believing that sorrow may be made productive.
As the waters of the Nile overflow the surrounding country, and open up the soil, end
prepare it for the reception of the rice seed, so the waters of sorrow should overflow and
open up the otherwise barren soil of our nature, and prepare it for the reception of the
seed of all truth in its manifold bearings. “Tribulation worketh patience,” etc. (W.
Burrows, B. A.)
Mordecai’s grief
There is perhaps but little doubt that Mordecai passed hours—they come to nearly all—
when gloom lay heavy upon the soul, when the shock he had felt seemed to render
existence a blank, leaving little of hope before him save that which glittered around the
gateway of death and seemed to whisper, “Abandon effort; accept the inevitable”—
seasons when the fruitlessness of labour, the unreasonableness of man, the malignancy
of human enmity, the worthlessness of human sacrifice, the emptiness of the most
ardent aspirations, and the ineffciency of goodness, leave the soul drifting upon the open
sea of despondency with a torturing sense of loneliness—moments when faith in man,
even faith in the Church, is shaken, inducing the spirit to cast itself upon the Fatherhood

17. of God, as the storm drives the wearied bird to its home in the rocks. But since faith still
lives, and can only live, in the performance of present duty—which alone has the power
of maintaining piety in the soul—he soon discovers that continued reliance upon God is
urging him to labour for the realisation of the results he covets. (J. S. Van Dyke, D. D.)
2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate,
because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed
to enter it.
BAR ES, "None might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth -
This law is not elsewhere mentioned; but its principle - that nothing of evil omen is to be
obtruded on the monarch - has been recognized throughout the East in all ages.
CLARKE, "Before the king’s gate - He could not enter into the gate, of the place
where the officers waited, because he was in the habit of a mourner; for this would have
been contrary to law.
GILL, "And came even before the king's gate,.... Or court, that Esther might if
possible be made acquainted with this dreadful calamity coming upon her people:
for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth: or appear in
such a dress at court, where nothing was admitted to damp the pleasures of it.
K&D, "Est_4:2
And came even before the king's gate, i.e., according to Est_4:6, the open space before
the entrance to the royal palace; for none might enter wearing mourning. ‫ּוא‬‫ב‬ ָ‫ל‬ ‫ין‬ ֵ‫,א‬ there
is no entering, i.e., none may enter; comp. Ewald, §321, c.
BE SO , "Esther 4:2. And came even before the king’s gate — That his cry might
come to the ears of Esther: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with
sackcloth — He durst not take his place in the gate, nor sit there as he had hitherto
done, because none that were in mourning might come thither, lest it should give the

18. king any occasion of grief and trouble. But what availed to keep out the badges of
sorrow, unless they could have kept out the causes of sorrow too? To forbid
sackcloth to enter, unless they could likewise forbid sickness, and trouble, and
death?
TRAPP, "Esther 4:2 And came even before the king’s gate: for none [might] enter
into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.
Ver. 2. And came even before the king’s gate] Which should have been always open
to poor petitioners (as the gate of the Roman Aedilis was), but was now shut against
such mourners as Mordecai. A night cap was an ill sight at Court; jolly spirits
cannot endure sadness; so great enemies they are to it, that they banish all
seriousness; like as the icopolites so hated the braying of an ass, that for that cause
they would not abide to hear the sound of a trumpet.
For none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth] Behold, they that
wear softs are in king’s houses, Matthew 11:8, and those that are altogether set upon
the merry pin. Jannes and Jambres, those magicians, are gracious with Pharaoh
when Moses and Aaron are frowned upon. Baal’s prophets are fed at Jezebel’s table
when Elias is almost pined in the desert. The dancing damsel trippeth on the toe,
Wρχησατο, Matthew 14:6, and triumpheth in Herod’s hall, when the rough coated
Baptist lieth in cold irons; and Christ’s company there is neither cared for, nor
called for, unless it be to show tricks, and do miracles for a pastime, Luke 23:8. The
kings and courtiers of Persia must see no sad sight, lest their mirth should be
marred, and themselves surprised with heaviness and horror. But if mourners might
not be suffered to come to court, why did those proud princes so seclude up
themselves, and not appear abroad for the relief of the poor oppressed? How much
better the modern kings of Persia, whom I have seen, saith a certain traveller, to
alight from their horses, to do justice to a poor body! How much better the Great
Turk, who, whensoever he goeth forth by land, doth always ride on horseback, upon
the Friday especially, which is their Sabbath, when he goeth to the temple. At which
times they that go along by his stirrup have charge to take all petitions that are
preferred to his Majesty, and many poor men, who dare not presume by reason of
their ragged apparel to approach near, stand afar off with fire upon their heads,
holding up their petitions in their hands; the which the Grand Signor seeing, who
never despiseth, but rather encourageth the poor, sends immediately to take the
petitions, and being returned home into his seraglio, harem and reads them all, and
then gives order for redress as he thinks fit. By reason of which complaints, the king
ofttimes taketh occasion suddenly to punish his greatest officers, either with death
or loss of place, which maketh the bashaws and other great officers that they care
not how seldom the Grand Signor stirs abroad in public, for fear lest in that manner
their bribery and injustice should come to his ears. It is probable that Haman had
got this also to be decreed, that none should enter into the king’s gate clothed in
sackcloth; lest passion might be moved thereby in any of the courtiers, or that be a
means to make a complaint to the king of his cruelty.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, " ot Afraid of Sackcloth

19. Esther 4:2; 2 Corinthians 3:12
In the book of Esther 4:2, we read, " one might enter into the king"s gate clothed
with sackcloth". St. Paul in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians3:12 says, "Seeing
then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech". In the first text we
read of a refusal to face the facts of life, the hard and painful facts—" one might
enter into the king"s gate clothed in sackcloth". In the second we read of an
unflinching sincerity of vision, and of a sincerity which does not flinch because it is
armed by a great hope—"Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great
plainness of speech".
There are three ways in which we may deal with the harder things of life. First of
all, we may take the way of the Eastern King and resolve not to see them, to bar the
door against them, to act as if they did not exist. There is a second way. We may face
them without the Christian hope. There is a third way. We may face them with the
Christian hope, and that is the true and only wisdom. Let us dwell for a moment on
those three ways or methods.
I. We may close the eyes and ears, and say that we will not look upon the things that
affright and affront us. " one might enter the king"s gate clothed in sackcloth." We
know what that leads to, that life lived in an unreal world, in a world of
imagination. We know what it has done in history through all the ages. We may
close the doors and curtain the windows and hide, as it were, our faces from misery,
but it is in vain. The flaring lights flicker, the storm outside begins to mutter and to
break, and the inexorable call comes, and we have to open our eyes and look out on
the woe and the wrong and the torture of this world, on all the wretchedness that is
rising against us to sweep us from our place. In other words, even the king cannot
keep his gate against the dark ministers of pain that insist upon an entrance, and
will force it at last.
II. We may look willingly or unwillingly at the facts of life without any hope in
Christ. I will not speak of those, and there are many, who look upon the agony of
the world simply to find in it the opportunity of new sensation. I wish to speak
rather of the hopeless, earnest, despairing outlook on the miseries of life. There are
those like the poet whose hearts become as
A nerve o"er which do creep
The else unfelt oppressions of the world.
They meditate upon sin and grief and death, upon the vast sum of human woe, upon
their little and slow means for diminishing it, till the heart spends itself in fierce and
hopeless throbs. The thought beats upon the brain like as on an anvil. Yet all
becomes at last so commonplace and so sad and so far beyond remedy. The waves of
mournful thought cannot be stemmed, but they flow in vain. The end is at best a
quiet misery.

20. III. We come to the one wise way of facing the problems and the agonies of life
without flinching and without fear. We may face them so as possessors of the
Christian hope, and in no other way—"Seeing then we have such hope, we use great
plainness of speech".
St. Paul has been speaking of the comparative dimness of the Mosaic ministry. That
ministry had passages of glory, but the glory was transitory and faded away. It was
shone down by the everlasting splendour of the new ministry of Christ. In Christ the
veil was taken away, and taken away for ever. There was a veil on the face of Moses:
there is no veil on the face of Jesus. It is as if the eyes that sought each other with
such desire burned the screen that parted them. Song of Solomon , said the Apostle,
since we live in light, we speak in light. We declare every truth of the Gospel, we
make every claim for our ministry. The future glory will make all our words good.
We are not afraid to look on the hostile elements of life and call them by their true
names. We need no disguise, no euphemism, no softening. We use great boldness of
speech, and are not afraid. Christianity, be it remembered, is the only religion that
has fairly measured itself with sin and grief and death. It has undertaken at last to
subdue them completely. It recognizes the sternness of the battle; it confesses that
the foes are terrible foes. It has no hope save in the might of Christ Who is
conquering and to conquer, but in Him it reposes an unshaken and absolute and
inviolable trust.
" one might enter the king"s gate clothed in sackcloth," but Christ our King offers
His welcome and His heart to those who are clothed in sackcloth, who are weary
and heavy-laden. The heart is heavy—
To think that each new week will yield
ew struggles in new battlefield.
But if He is with us in the fight, everything will be changed. Said St. Paul once, "I
will abide and winter with you". He has promised to be with us to the end of the
world, and He will winter with us through the dark, cold years until the winter
ends, until we pass from the turmoil of this world to the peace of that.
—W. Robertson icoll, The Lamp of Sacrifice, p37.
The Transfigured Sackcloth
Esther 4:2
Christianity is sometimes scouted as "the religion of sorrow," and many amongst us
are ready to avow that the Persian forbidding the sackcloth is more to their taste
than the Egyptian or the Christian dragging the corpse through the banquet: but we
confidently contend that the recognition by Christ of the morbid phases of human
life is altogether wise and gracious.

21. I. We consider, first, the recognition by revelation of sin. Sackcloth is the outward
and visible sign of sin, guilt and misery. How men shut their eyes to this most
terrible reality—coolly ignoring, skilfully veiling, emphatically denying it! What is
popularly called sin these philosophers call error, accident, inexperience, indecision,
misdirection, imperfection, disharmony; but they will not allow the presence in the
human heart of a malign force, which asserts itself against God, and against the
order of His universe. The sackcloth must not mar our shallow happiness,
nevertheless sin thrusts itself upon our attention. The greatest thinkers in all ages
have been constrained to recognize its presence and power. The creeds of all nations
declare the fact that men everywhere feel the bitter working and intolerable burden
of conscience. Sin was the burden of the life of Christ because it is the burden of our
life. Christ has done more than insist on the reality. The odiousness, the
ominousness of sin. He has laid bare its principle and essence—not in the spirit of a
barren cynicism does Christ lay bare the ghastly wound of our nature but as a noble
physician who can purge the mortal virus which destroys us.
II. We consider the recognition by revelation of sorrow. Sackcloth is the raiment of
sorrow, and as such it was interdicted by the Persian monarch. We still follow the
same insane course, minimizing, despising, masking, denying, suffering.
evertheless suffering is a stern fact that will not long permit us to sleep. A man
may carry many hallucinations with him to the grave, but a belief in the unreality of
pain is hardly likely to be one of them. Reason as we may, suppress the disagreeable
truths of life as we may, suffering will find us out, and pierce us to the heart. Christ
gives us the noblest example of suffering. He himself was preeminently a man of
sorrows; He exhausted all forms of suffering, touching life at every point, at every
point He bled, and in Him we learn how to sustain our burden and to triumph
throughout all tragedy.
III. We consider the recognition by revelation of death. We have again adroit ways
of shutting the gate upon their sackcloth which is the sign of death. Walt Whitman
tells us "That nothing can happen more beautiful than death". And he has
expressed the humanist view of mortality in a hymn which his admirers regard as
the high-water mark of modern poetry. But will this rhapsody bear thinking about?
Is death "delicate," "lovely and soothing," "delicious," coming to us with
"serenades". Do we go forth to meet death "with dances and chants of fullest
welcome?" It is vain to hide the direct fact of all under metaphors and rhetorical
artifice. Without evasion or euphony Christ recognizes the sombre mystery. He
shows us that death as we know it is an unnatural thing, that it is the fruit of
disobedience, and by giving us purity and peace He gives us eternal life.
—W. L. Watkinson, The Transfigured Sackcloth, p3.
BI, "Clothed with sackcloth.
The transfigured sackcloth
The sign of affliction was thus excluded from the Persian court that royalty might not be

22. discomposed. This disposition to place an interdict on disagreeable and painful things
still survives. Men of all ranks and conditions hide from themselves the dark facts of life.
Revelation, however, lends no sanction to this habit. We wish to show the entire
reasonableness of revelation in its frank recognition of the dark facts of existence.
I. we consider first the recognition by revelation of sin. Sackcloth is the outward and
visible sign of sin, guilt, and misery. What is popularly called sin, certain philosophers
call error, accident, inexperience, imperfection, disharmony, but they will not allow the
presence in the human heart of a malign force which asserts itself against God and
against the order of His universe. Intellectual masters like Emerson and Renan ignore
conscience; they refuse to acknowledge the selfishness, baseness, and cruelty of society.
Men generally are willing to dupe themselves touching the fact and power of sin. We do
not unshrinkingly acquaint ourselves with the malady of the spirit as we should with any
malady hinting itself in the flesh. The sackcloth must not mar our shallow happiness. In
the vision of beautiful things we forget the troubles of conscience as the first sinners hid
themselves amid the leaves and flowers of paradise; in fashion and splendour we forget
our guilty sorrow, as mediaeval mourners sometimes concealed the cerements with
raiment of purple and gold; in the noises of the world we become oblivious of the
interior discords, as soldiers forget their wounds amid the stir and trumpets of the
battle. Nevertheless sin thrusts itself upon our attention. The creeds of all nations
declare the fact that men everywhere feel the bitter working and intolerable burden of
conscience. The sense of sin has persisted through changing generations. The sackcloth
is ours, and it eats our spirits like fire. More than any other teacher, Christ emphasised
the actuality and awfulness of sin; more than any other He has intensified the world’s
consciousness of sin. He never sought to relieve us of the sackcloth by asserting our
comparative innocence; He never attempted to work into that melancholy robe one
thread of colour, to relieve it with one solitary spangle of rhetoric. He laid bare its
principle and essence. The South Sea Islanders have a singular tradition to account for
the existence of the dew. The legend states that in the beginning the earth touched the
sky, that being the golden age when all was beautiful and glad; then some dreadful
tragedy occurred, the primal unity was broken up, the earth and sky were torn asunder
as we see them now, and the dew-drops of the morning are the tears that nature sheds
over the sad divorce. This wild fable is a metaphor of the truth, the beginning of all evil
lies in the alienation of the spirit of man from God, in the divorce of earth from heaven;
here is the final reason why the face of humanity is wet with tears. Instead of shutting
out the signs of woe, Christ arrayed Himself in the sackcloth, becoming sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We have
redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; He establishes us in a true
relation to the holy God; He restores in us the image of God; He fills us with the peace of
God. Not in the spirit of barren cynicism does Christ lay bare the ghastly wound of our
nature, but as a noble physician who can purge the mortal virus that destroys` us. We go
to Him in sackcloth, but we leave His presence in purity’s robe of snow, in the heavenly
blue of the holiness of truth.
II. We consider the recognition by revelation of sorrow. Sackcloth is the raiment of
sorrow, and as such it was interdicted by the Persian monarch. We still follow the same
insane course, minimising, denying suffering. Society sometimes attempts this.
Literature sometimes follows the same cue. Goethe made it one of the rules of his life to
avoid everything that could suggest painful ideas. Art has yielded to the same
temptation. Most of us are inclined to the sorry trick of gliding over painful things.
When the physician prescribed blisters to Marie Bashkirtseff to check her consumptive
tendency, the vain, cynical girl wrote: “I will put on as many blisters as they like. I shall

23. be able to hide the mark by bodices trimmed with flowers and lace and tulle, and a
thousand other things that are worn, without being required; it may even look pretty.
Ah! I am comforted.” The real secret of the power of many of the fashions and diversions
of the world is found in the fact that they hide disagreeable things, and render men
oblivious for awhile of the mystery and weight of an unintelligible world. There is no
screen to shut off permanently the spectacle of suffering. When Marie Antoinette passed
to her bridal in Paris, the halt, the lame, and the blind were sedulously kept out of her
way, lest their appearance should mar the joyousness of her reception; but ere long the
poor queen had a very close view of misery’s children, and she drank to the dregs the cup
of life’s bitterness. Reason as we may, suffering will find us out, and pierce us to the
heart. We will not have the philosophy that ignores suffering; witness the popularity of
Schopenhaur. We resent the art that ignores sorrow. The most popular picture in the
world to-day is the “Angelus” of Millet. We will not have the literature that ignores
suffering. Classic religions had little or nothing to do with the sorrows of the million; the
gods reigned on Mount Olympus, taking little note of the grief of mortals. Christianity
boldly recognises the sad element in human nature. Christ makes clear to us the origin of
suffering. He shows that its genesis is in the error of the human will; but if suffering
originate in the error of the human will, it ceases at once if the erring will be brought into
correspondence with the primitive order of the universe. Christ has power to establish
this harmony. Dealing with sin, He dries up the stream of sorrow at its fountain. By the
authority of that word that speaks the forgiveness of our sin, He wipes away all tears
from the face of such as obey Him. Christ gives us the noblest example of suffering. So
far from shutting His gate on the sackcloth, once more He adopted it, and showed how it
might become a robe of glory. Poison is said to be extracted from the rattlesnake for
medicinal purposes; but infinitely more wonderful is the fact that the suffering which
comes out of sin counterworks sin, and brings to pass the transfiguration of the sufferer.
It is a clumsy mistake to call Christianity a religion of sorrow—it is a religion for sorrow.
III. We consider the recognition by revelation of death. We have, again, adroit ways of
shutting the gate upon that sackcloth which is the sign of death. Some would have us
believe that through the scientific and philosophic developments of later centuries the
sombre way of viewing death has become obsolete. The fact, however, still remains, that
death is the crowning evil, the absolute bankruptcy, the final defeat, the endless exile. If
we are foolish enough to shut the gate on the thought of death, by no stratagem can we
shut the gate upon death itself. Christ displays the fact, the power, the terror of death
without reserve or softening. He shows that death is unnatural, that it is the fruit of
disobedience, and by giving us purity and peace He gives us eternal life. He
demonstrates immortality by raising us from the death of sin to the life of righteousness.
Here is the supreme proof of immortality: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall
he do, because I go unto the Father.” The moral works are the greater works. If Christ
has raised us from the death of sin, why should we think it a thing incredible that God
should raise the dead? If He has wrought the greater, He will not fail with the less. Christ
bringing life and immortality to light has brought about the great change in the point of
view from which we regard death, the point of view which is full of consolation and
hope. Once more, by boldly adopting the sackcloth Christ has changed it into a robe of
light. We cannot escape the evils of life. Wearing wreaths of roses, our heads will still
ache. “The king sighs as often as the peasant”; this proverb anticipates the fact that those
who participate in the richest civilisation that will ever flower will sigh as men sigh now.
Esther “sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take his sackcloth from him, but he
received it not.” In vain men offer us robes of beauty, chiding us for wearing the robes of

24. night; we must give place to all the sad thoughts of our mortality until we find a salvation
that goes to the root of our suffering, that dries up the fount of our tears. Christianity
gives such large recognition to the pathetic element of life, because it divines the secret
of our mighty misfortune, and brings with it the sovereign antidote. The critics declare
Rubens had an absolute delight in representing pain, and they refer us to his picture of
the “Brazen Serpent.” The writhing, gasping crowd is everything, and the supreme
instrument of cure, the brazen serpent itself, is small and obscure, no conspicuous
feature whatever of the picture. Revelation brings out broadly and impressively the
darkness of the world, the malady of life, the terror of death, only that it may evermore
make conspicuous the uplifted Cross, which, once seen, is death to every vice, a
consolation in every sorrow, a victory over every fear. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Sorrow may be transfigured
Science tells how the bird-music has arisen out of the bird’s cry of distress in the
morning of time; how originally the music of field and forest was nothing more than an
exclamation caused by the bird’s bodily pain and fear, and how through the ages the
primal note of anguish has been evolved and differentiated until it has risen into the
ecstasy of the lark, melted into the silver note of the dove, swelled into the rapture of the
nightingale, unfolded into the vast and varied music of the sky and the summer. So
Christ shows that out of the personal sorrow which now rends the believer’s heart, he
shall arise in moral and infinite perfection; that out of the cry of anguish wrung from us
by the present distress shall spring the supreme music of the future. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Esther 4:2
For none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.
Death must be encountered
Since the last enemy must be encountered by the greatest as well as the least of our race,
is it not far better to be prepared for meeting him, than to banish him from our
thoughts? (G. Lawson.)
Death a visitor that cannot be stopped at the gate
And is Death included in this prohibition? Have you given orders to your porters and
guards to stop this visitor at the gate, and to say to him, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but
no further”? Or will they be able to persuade him, and his train of ghastly attendants,
gout, fever, consumption, and other diseases, to lay aside their sable dress, together with
their darts and spears and scorpions? (T. McCrie.)
We cannot keep trouble from our hearts by banishing the signs of mourning
from our dwellings
It is the height of folly, therefore, for us to try to surround ourselves with the appearance
of security, and make believe that no change can come upon us. That is to do like the

25. ostrich, which buries its head in the sand, and thinks itself safe from its pursuers
because it can no longer see them. Trouble, sorrow, trial, death are inevitable, and the
wise course is to prepare to meet them. We cannot shut our homes against these things;
but we can open them to Christ, and when He enters He says, “My grace is sufficient for
thee; My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
3 In every province to which the edict and order
of the king came, there was great mourning
among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and
wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
CLARKE, "Fasting, and weeping, and wailing - How astonishing, that in all this
there is not the slightest intimation given of praying to God!
GILL, "And in every province whithersoever the king's commandment and
his decree came,.... For destroying the Jews on such a day, in every place where they
were to be found:
there was great mourning among the Jews, and weeping, and wailing; which
continued all day:
and many lay in sackcloth and ashes: all night; made use of no other bed to lie on,
nor clothes to cover them with.
K&D, "Est_4:3
Also in every province whither the king's decree arrived, there arose a great mourning
among the Jews. ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ ‫ּום‬‫ק‬ ְ‫מ‬ is an adverbial accusat. loci in apposition to ‫ה‬ָ‫ינ‬ ִ‫ד‬ ְ‫ל־מ‬ ָ‫כ‬ ְ : in every
place to which the word of the king and his decree reached, i.e., arrived. “Sackcloth and
ashes were spread for many,” i.e., many sat in hairy garments upon the earth, where
ashes had been spread; comp. Isa_58:5. The meaning is: All the Jews broke out into
mourning, weeping, and lamentation, while many manifested their grief in the manner
above described.

26. BI, "And in every province . . . there was great mourning among the Jews.
A sentence of death
If a sentence of death pronounced by an earthly sovereign produced such grief, such
anxiety, such cries of deliverance, what impression ought to be made on the minds of
sinners by that sentence which is passed against them in the court of heaven?—
“Judgment is come upon all men to condemnation.” We are still under that sentence of
condemnation if we are not in Christ Jesus. Surely we believe neither law nor gospel, if
we can enjoy peace in our own minds, without the humble hope of mercy through our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. (G. Lawson.)
BE SO , "Esther 4:3. And many lay in sackcloth and ashes — All day long they
fasted, and wept, and lamented; and in the night many lay, not in their beds, but in
sack or haircloth strewed with ashes.
TRAPP, "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.
Ver. 3. And in every province] Heb. In every province, and province, &c., not only
in Shushan, which, say the Hebrews, was called Elam Hammedina, but throughout
the king’s dominions.
Whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree] The latter was irrevocable,
and therefore more dreadful.
There was great mourning among the Jews] ot murmuring or mutinying, or
meditating revenge against the king and Haman. ot casting away their confidence
in God, or committing all to fate and blind fortune. ot crying out of religion, as
unhappy, to the professors, ( ω τληµων αρετη, said he in the story. Oh miserable
virtue! Oh practice of no profit! &c., Brutus apud Dion). ot taking up arms or
betaking themselves to flight; (how should poor galley slaves at this day flee out of
the middle of Turkey?) prayers and tears were the weapons of these condemned
captives and prisoners. It troubled them exceedingly (as well it might), that through
fearfulness and negligence they had not, before this, gone back to their own country,
with Zerubbabel or some other, when they had good leave to have gone with their
brethren; and God himself cried out unto them, "Ho, ho, come forth," &c.,
Zechariah 2:6. "Arise, depart; this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall
destroy you, even with a sore destruction," Micah 2:10. This was now a bodkin at
their hearts; like as it shall be one day to those in hell, to think, we might have been
delivered.
And fasting] The word signifieth an abstinence from food and sustenance, either a
toto, totally, as 2 Samuel 12:16, or at least a tanto eta tali, partially, as Daniel 10:2-3.
Hence, it is called a day of restraint, ηστεια, Joel 2:15. Hence, Zechariah 8:19, they

27. separated themselves, viz. from work, food, and delights, for the furtherance of their
repentance, and the enforcing of their prayers. Preces nobis ieiuniis alendum, et
quasi saginandum, saith one, our prayers must be pampered and grain fed with
fasting. A practice in use, not among Jews and Christians only, but among Egyptian
priests, Persian magi, and Indian wizards of old, and Turks to this day when they
are in any great fear of pressure.
And weeping, and wailing] This was the way to get in with God, though they might
not come crying to the court. Oh the divine rhetoric and omnipotent efficacy of
penitent tears! Psalms 6:8, Weeping hath a voice. Christ turned to the weeping
women, when going to his cross, and comforted them. He showed great respects to
Mary Magdalene, that weeping vine; she had the first sight of the revived Phoenix
(though so bleared that she could scarce discern him), and held him fast by those
feet which she had once washed with her tears, and wherewith he had lately trod
upon the lion and adder, Psalms 91:13.
And many lay in sackcloth and ashes] As many as were more deeply affected with
their sins, and the sad consequents thereof. David lay on the bare ground,
χαµαικοιτης, 2 Samuel 12:16; these, and those Joel 1:13, lodged in sackcloth and
ashes, that they might watch as well as fast. See how they go linked together, Mark
13:33. See Esther 4:16.
LA GE, "Esther 4:3. Many other Jews also mourned. The sorrow was general.
Despite the elevation of Esther her people now had everywhere only distress and
grief, instead of honor and joy. It seems as if the author would here describe how
the Jews were treated contrary to what one would naturally expect after the
elevation of Esther. He would here, doubtless, also give prominence to the
remarkable mode which Mordecai adopted to secure the attention of Esther.
Further in Esther 4:3 he would show us how pressing was the need of every possible
endeavor for their preservation. And in every province, whithersoever the king’s
commandment and his decree came, etc.—‫ְקוֹם‬‫מ‬ is the Accusative of place found in
stat. constr. before ‫ר‬ֶ‫שׁ‬ֲ‫,א‬ as in Esther 8:17; Ecclesiastes 11:3; comp. Leviticus 4:24
‫ר‬ֶ‫שּׁ‬ֲ‫א‬ ‫ְקוֹם‬‫מ‬ִ‫בּ‬. And many lay in sackcloth and ashes.—While all gave vent to their
distress and tears, many manifested their sorrow by putting on sackcloth and sitting
in ashes (comp. Isaiah 58:5).
4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants
came and told her about Mordecai, she was in
great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on

28. instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept
them.
BAR ES, "Esther’s maids ... told it her - Esther’s nationality and her
relationship to Mordecai were probably by this time known to her attendants, though
still concealed from the king. See Est_7:4.
CLARKE, "Sent raiment - She supposed that he must have been spoiled of his
raiment by some means; and therefore sent him clothing.
GILL, "So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her,.... Her
maids of honour and eunuchs that attended her, which they might tell her merely as a
piece of news, there being something shocking in it to tender minds; or perhaps nothing
more than that Mordecai was in sackcloth; and they might have observed, by some
incident or another, that there was some connection between Mordecai and Esther, and
that she had a peculiar respect for him:
then was the queen exceedingly grieved; even though she might not know the
whole of the matter; but perceiving whatever it was it greatly affected Mordecai, with
whom she sympathized:
and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth
from him; that so he might appear at court, and she get better intelligence of the cause
of all this:
but he received it not; refusing to be comforted, or appear cheerful under such
melancholy circumstances.
JAMISO , "Then was the queen ... grieved; and ... sent raiment to ...
Mordecai — Her object in doing so was either to qualify him for resuming his former
office, or else, perhaps, of fitting him to come near enough to the palace to inform her of
the cause of such sudden and extreme distress.
K&D, "The matter was made known to Esther by her maids and eunuchs, i.e., by her
attendants. The Chethiv ‫ה‬ָ‫ינ‬ ֶ‫ּוא‬‫ב‬ ְ does not elsewhere occur after ‫ו‬ consecutive, hence the
substitution of the Keri ‫ה‬ָ‫ּואנ‬‫ב‬ ָ . The object of ‫ידוּ‬ִ ַ‫:י‬ what they told her, is evidently, from
what follows, the circumstance of Mordochai's appearance in deep mourning before the
gate of the palace. On receiving this information the queen fell into convulsive grief

29. (‫ל‬ ַ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫תח‬ ִ , an intensive form of ‫,חוּל‬ to be seized with painful grief), and sent to Mordochai
raiment to put on instead of his sackcloth, evidently for the purpose of enabling him to
enter the palace and give her the particulars of what had happened. But Mordochai did
not accept the raiment.
BI, "Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment.
Sorrow net superficially removed
Esther, in her elevation, and in her separation from her friends, was far from forgetting
them. She was deeply afflicted when she heard of the mourning habit and sore affliction
of Mordecai. She was vexed that he should appear at the king’s gate in a dress in which
he could not enter it, and therefore sent to him change of raiment. But she knew not the
sources of his distress. Grief so firmly rooted, and so well founded, could not be removed
without a removal of its cause. (G. Lawson.)
BE SO , "Esther 4:4. So Esther’s maids came and told it her — amely, that
Mordecai appeared before the king’s gate in sackcloth. Then was the queen
exceedingly grieved — Imagining some mischief had befallen him, and not yet
knowing what it was; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai — That so he might
be capable of returning to his former place, if not of coming to acquaint her with the
cause of his sorrow. But he received it not — Which, no doubt, very much increased
her grief and surprise.
COFFMA , "Verse 4
ESTHER THE QUEE GETS A FULL REPORT FROM MORDECAI
"And Esther's maidens and her chamberlains came and tom it her; and the queen
was exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take his
sackcloth from off him; but he received it not. Then called Esther for Hathach, one
of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed, to attend upon her, and
charged him to go to Mordecai, to know what this was, and why it was. So Hathach
went forth to Mordecai in the broad place of the city, which was before the king's
gate, And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the
money, that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to
destroy them. Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given
out in Shushan to destroy them, and 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 sent raiment to clothe Mordecai ... but he received it not" (Esther 4:4).
"Mordecai's refusal to accept the clothing was evidence to Esther that his actions
were not caused by personal sorrow, but by an unusually dire public caalamity."[4]
"The exact sum of money that Haman agreed to pay" (Esther 4:7). Throughout the
Book of Esther, it is evident that Mordecai had access to any information that he

30. requested; and this mention of that ten thousand talents of silver Haman agreed to
pay the king indicates, that regardless of the king's seeming refusal of it, that it
became finally a binding part of the agreement. "The most natural interpretation of
this is that the king's acceptance of the blood money was part of the transaction."[5]
"The copy" (Esther 4:8). "A copy is the way this reads in the Hebrew, which is
correct. Mordecai had made a copy in order to send it to Esther."[6]
"To declare it unto her" (Esther 4:8). This means that Hathach was probably
intended to read it to the queen; she might not have known the Persian language.
"Charge her ... to make request, for her people" (Esther 4:8). This means that
Hathach, at least, and probably all of Esther's maidens and servants knew that she
was a Jewess. Even if she had not told it to them, they would soon have known it
through her concern for and interest in Mordecai. The king, however, probably did
not learn of it until Esther told him.
TRAPP, "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.
Ver. 4. So Esther’s maids came and told it her] She herself (say interpreters) was
kept in a closer place than they, not having the liberty of going abroad, as others
had; because the Persians that were of highest quality used so to keep in their wives;
and if they went forth at any time, they were carried in a close chariot, so as that
none could see them.
Then was the queen exceedingly grieved] Dolens exhorruit. So Tremellius. The
Hebrew is, She grieved herself, scil. for Mordecai’s heaviness; as our Saviour, when
he heard of the death of his friend Lazarus, groaned in spirit, and troubled himself,
John 11:33. And here we see that of Plautus disproved,
Mulier nulla cordicitus dolet ex animo,
that is, o woman can grieve heartily for anything. Holy Esther is here sick at heart
of grief, as the word importeth; and yet (as one saith of the Lady Jane Grey) she
made grief itself amiable; her night clothes becoming her as well as her day
dressings, by reason of her gracious deportment.
And she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai] That he might be fit to come unto her, and
make known the cause of his grief, for she yet knew nothing of the public calamity.
And although she was so highly advanced above Mordecai, yet she condoleth with
him, and honoureth him as much as ever. This was true friendship. Ego aliter amare
non didici, said Basil, to one that disliked him for stooping so low to an old friend.

31. And to take away his sackcloth, &c.] To change his saccum in sericum, sackcloth
into satin, &c. See Esther 4:2.
But he received it not] Such was the greatness of his grief which he could not
dissemble; such was his care of community, that he could not mind his own private
concerns while it went ill with the public. Such also was his patient continuance in
well doing, Romans 2:7, that he would not give over asking of God till he had
received, seeking till he had found, knocking till the gate of grace was open. His
clothes were good enough, unless his condition were more comfortable.
WHEDO , "4. Told it her — Told her of the grief of Mordecai and the Jews, but
they seem not to have told her its cause.
Grieved — She was grieved to learn of her cousin’s miserable appearance and bitter
mourning.
She sent raiment — Hoping to remove his sorrow, and to take away his reproach,
for his sackcloth exposed him to the derision of the courtiers.
He received it not — His sorrow was too deep to be thus removed.
CO STABLE, "A. Mordecai"s Instruction4:4-17
Mordecai"s mourning may have been the only thing that disturbed Esther. She may
have known nothing about the decree. On the other hand, she may have known of
both, and concluded that since the king did not know that she was a Jewess, she
would be safe ( Esther 4:13). However, Mordecai implied that Hathach knew she
was a Jewess ( Esther 4:13, cf. Esther 4:9), and probably others did as well.
Several students of Esther have pointed out that Mordecai does not come across in
this book as a very "spiritual" person. [ ote: E.g, Martin, p707.] In Esther 4:14, for
example, he made no direct reference to God that would certainly have been natural
(cf. ehemiah"s frequent prayers). evertheless, he did believe that God would
preserve His people and punish their enemies ( Genesis 12:3). He also concluded
that if Esther remained silent she would die. Mordecai saw God"s hand behind the
human agent of her threatened destruction, who was probably the king (cf. Genesis
50:20).
Mordecai"s question in Esther 4:14 is the main basis for the view that the doctrine
of providence is the key to understanding the Book of Esther.
"The book implies that even when God"s people are far from him and disobedient,
they are still the object of his concern and love, and that he is working out his
purposes through them ..." [ ote: Huey, p794.]

32. Mordecai perceived Esther"s moment of destiny.
"Mordecai is not postulating that deliverance will arise for the Jews from some
mysterious, unexpressed source. Rather, by affirming that Esther is the only
possible source of deliverance for the Jews, he is attempting to motivate her to act."
[ ote: Bush, p397.]
"The promises of God, the justice of God, and the providence of God shine
brilliantly through the entire crisis, so that the mere omission of His name obscures
nothing of His identity, attributes, and purposes for His chosen people and for the
entire world of mankind." [ ote: Whitcomb, p79.]
"Without explicitly spelling out in detail how he came to his convictions, Mordecai
reveals that he believes in God, in God"s guidance of individual lives, and in God"s
ordering of the world"s political events, irrespective of whether those who seem to
have the power acknowledge him or not." [ ote: Baldwin, p80.]
"Though God chooses to use people, He is by no means dependent on them. Many
believers act as though they are indispensable to the Lord"s purposes, and if they
refuse to do His bidding God"s work will grind to a halt. Mordecai"s challenge to
Esther must be heard and heeded. Our sovereign God will accomplish all His
objectives with or without us. He calls us not out of His need for us but for our need
to find fulfillment in serving Him." [ ote: Merrill, in The Old . . ., p370.]
Evidently there was a fairly large population of Jews in Susa ( Esther 4:16; cf.
Esther 9:15). Again there is no mention of prayer, though some of the Jews may
have prayed because they faced serious danger. [ ote: Baldwin, pp81-85 , gave a
helpful discussion of fasting.]
"Like all human beings, Esther was not without flaw; but certainly our heroine
should be judged more by the brave act she performs than by the natural fears she
had to fight against. The rash man acts without fear; the brave Prayer of Manasseh
, in spite of it." [ ote: Moore, Esther , p53.]
Esther"s words, "If I perish, I perish," ( Esther 4:16) seem more like words of
courageous determination [ ote: David J. A. Clines, Ezra ,, ehemiah ,, Esther ,
p303; Bush, p400.] than an expression of resignation to the inevitable (cf. Genesis
43:14). [ ote: Paton, p226.]
"Just as Esther"s fast and Jesus" humiliation (tapeinosis, Philippians 2:8)
commenced on the same date, so too Esther"s three-day period of fasting parallels
the three-day period of Jesus" death." [ ote: Michael G. Wechsler, "Shadow and
Fulfillment in the Book of Esther ," Bibliotheca Sacra154:615 (July-
September1997):281.]
If the Jews did indeed fast for three days, as Esther requested, they would not have

33. been able to celebrate the Passover, which their Law commanded ( Exodus 12), since
their fasting would have begun on the eve of Passover. [ ote: David J. A. Clines,
The Esther Scroll: The Story of the Story, pp36-37.]
LA GE, "Esther 4:4. The first object that Mordecai gained by his public grief was
that he drew the attention of Esther’s women-servants and eunuchs, i. e., such as
were assigned her for her exclusive service (comp. Esther 2:9), and they gave notice
to the queen. Though they had not as yet discovered the nationality of Esther, still
they became aware of Esther’s relation to Mordecai, who on his part was very
diligent in his inquiries concerning her. Hence they delayed not to inform the queen
of all that they know of him. Following the Kethib we should read ‫ָה‬‫נ‬‫י‬ֶ‫בוֹא‬ְ‫ַתּ‬‫ו‬. As this
prolonged form of the word does not usually occur after a Vav. cons., the Keri has
the form ‫ָה‬‫נ‬‫בוֹא‬ָ‫ַתּ‬‫ו‬. The object of ‫ִידוּ‬‫גּ‬ָ‫י‬ is found in what follows: the present appearance
of Mordecai in mourning garments was not the cause (comp. Esther 4:5); but this
was enough to give her considerable anxiety. ‫ַל‬‫ח‬ְ‫ל‬ַ‫ה‬ְ‫ת‬ִ‫ַתּ‬‫ו‬, a passive intensive from ‫,חוּל‬
they were seized as with pains of delivery. She sent clothes to her guardian, that he
might put them on, doubtless, that thereby he might again stand in the gate of the
king, and so relate to her the cause of his grief. But he refused them, not only
because he would wear no other than garments of mourning, but because he desired
a private opportunity to communicate with her.
PULPIT, "Esther 4:4-17
GRIEF OF ESTHER. HER COMMU ICATIO S WITH MORDECAI. SHE
CO SE TS TO RISK MAKI G A APPEAL TO THE KI G (Esther 4:4-17).
Esther, in the seclusion of the harem, knew nothing of what the king and Haman
had determined on. o one in the palace suspected how vitally she was concerned in
the matter, since none knew that she was a Jewess, and state affairs are not
commonly discussed between an Oriental monarch and a young wife. It was known,
however, that she took an interest in Mordecai; and when that official was seen
outside the palace gate in his mourning garb, it was reported to the queen. ot being
aware why he grieved, but thinking that perhaps it was some light matter which he
took too much to heart, she sent him a change of raiment, and requested him to put
off his sackcloth. But Mordecai, without assigning any reason, refused (verse 4).
Esther upon this caused inquiry to be made of Mordecai concerning the reason of
his mourning, and in this way became acquainted with what had happened (verses
5-9). At the same time she found herself called on by Mordecai to incur a great
danger, since he requested her to go at once to the king, and to intercede with him
for her people (verse 8). In reply, the queen pointed out the extreme risk which she
would run in entering the royal presence uninvited, and the little chance that there
was of her receiving a summons, since she had not had one for thirty .days (verse
11). Mordecai, however, was inexorable. He reminded Esther that she herself was
threatened by the decree, and was not more likely to escape than any other Jew or
Jewess; declared his belief that, if she withheld her aid, deliverance would arise
from some other quarter; warned her that neglect of duty was apt to provoke a
heavy retribution, and suggested that she might have been raised to her queenly
dignity for the express purpose of her being thus able to save her nation (verses 13,

34. 14). The dutiful daughter, the true Jewess, could resist no longer; she only asked
that Mordecai and the other Jews in Susa would fast for her three days, while she
and her maidens also fasted, and then she would take her life in her hand, and enter
the royal presence uninvited, though it was contrary to the law; the risk should be
run, and then, as she said with a simple pathos never excelled, "if I perish, I perish"
(verse 16). Satisfied with this reply, Mordecai "went his way," and held the three
days' fast which Esther had requested (verse 17).
Esther 4:4
Esther's maids and her chamberlains. A queen consort at an Oriental court is sure
to have, besides her train of maids, a numerous body of eunuchs, who are at her
entire disposal, and are especially employed in going her errands and maintaining
her communications with the outer world. Told her. Esther's interest in Mordecai
would be known to the maids and eunuchs by Mordecai's inquiries about her
(Esther 1:11) and communications with her (ibid. verse 22).
5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the
king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and
ordered him to find out what was troubling
Mordecai and why.
CLARKE, "Then called Esther for Hatach - This eunuch the king had appointed
to wait upon her, partly, as is still the case in the East, to serve her, and partly, to observe
her conduct; for no despot is ever exempt from a twofold torture, jealousy and suspicion.
GILL, "Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains,
whom he had appointed to attend upon her,.... Which, according to the Targum,
was Daniel (a); but it is not likely that Daniel should have lived to this time; however,
this officer was not only intrusted with the care of the queen by the king, but she had
also an high opinion of him, and therefore employed him in this affair:

35. and gave a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was;
what was the reason of his appearing in sackcloth, and why he did not receive the clothes
she sent him.
HE RY, "So strictly did the laws of Persia confine the wives, especially the king's
wives, that it was not possible for Mordecai to have a conference with Esther about this
important affair, but divers messages are here carried between them by Hatach, whom
the king had appointed to attend her, and it seems he was one she could confide in.
I. She sent to Mordecai to know more particularly and fully what the trouble was
which he was now lamenting (Est_4:5) and why it was that he would not put off his
sackcloth. To enquire thus after news, that we may know the better how to direct our
griefs and joys, our prayers and praises, well becomes all that love Sion. If we must weep
with those that weep, we must know why they weep.
JAMISO , "Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains,
whom he had appointed to attend upon her — Communication with the women in
the harem is very difficult to be obtained, and only through the medium of the keepers.
The chief eunuch receives the message from the lips of the queen, conveys it to some
inferior office of the seraglio. When the commission is executed, the subaltern
communicates it to the superintendent, by whom it is delivered to the queen. This chief
eunuch, usually an old man who has recommended himself by a long course of faithful
service, is always appointed by the king; but it is his interest, as well as his duty, to
ingratiate himself with the queen also. Accordingly, we find Hatach rendering himself
very serviceable in carrying on those private communications with Mordecai who was
thereby enabled to enlist Esther’s powerful influence.
K&D, "Est_4:5-7
Then Esther sent Hatach, one of the eunuchs whom the king had set before her, i.e.,
appointed to attend her, to Mordochai to learn ”what this, and why this,” i.e., what was
the meaning and the cause of his thus going about in mourning. When Hatach came
forth to him in the open place of the city before the king's gate, Mordochai told him all
that had happened, and the amount of the money which Haman had promised to weigh
to the king's treasures (i.e., to pay into the royal treasury) for the Jews, to destroy them,
i.e., that it might be permitted him to destroy the Jews. ‫ה‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ , properly a determined,
accurate statement, from ‫שׁ‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ in the sense of to determine clearly (see rem. on Lev_
24:12); here, according to the context: amount, sum. This promise of Haman is here
emphatically mentioned as the chief point, not so much for the purpose of raising the
indignation of Esther to the highest pitch (Bertheau), as to show the resentment and
eagerness with which Haman had urged the extermination of the Jews. The Chethiv
‫ים‬ִ ִ‫הוּד‬ְ‫י‬ is the rarer form for ‫ים‬ ִ‫הוּד‬ְ‫,י‬ and is repeated Est_8:1, Est_8:7,Est_8:13; Est_9:15,
Est_9:18.
BI, "Then called Esther for Hatach, one Of the king’s chamberlains.

36. Hatach, the chamberlain
Gives us a good subject for reflection; and not a hackneyed one. Pause we a moment
then on this undistinguished name. Let the greater actors stand aside—king and queen—
Haman and Mordecai—mourning Jews and raging Amalekites—and let a servant (in
high office no doubt, but still a servant), rendering true fealty in the spirit of reverence
and faithfulness, stand before us in his undistinguished honesty and simplicity. The
queen begins to be in sore trouble. The darkness is deepening. Some unknown but dire
calamity is near—“Send me Hatach—I need my truest and my best—‘that I may know
what it is, and why it is,’ and what may be done to prepare for, or avert the evil day.”
Imagine, if you can, what this world would be if all the Hstachs were taken out of it, or
taken out of its offices. Let Abraham have no Eliezer; Sarah no Deborah; Naaman’s wife
no little maid of Israel; Saul no armour-bearer; Esther no Hatach. Let that process go on
through a particular section of society, and what helpless creatures kings and queens
would be, and all the men of great name, and all who live in state, and luxury, and
grandeur! It would be like a landslip in society. The upper stratum would come sliding
down, in some cases perhaps toppling down in many things to a level with the lowest.
There are men in government offices never heard of in public life, who have more merit
in particular measures which pass than some of those whose names are connected with
them. There are managers and confidential clerks who mainly conduct great businesses
in the city, and in whom their masters proudly and safely trust. Or, to enter the private
scene, many a house is kept quiet, and orderly, and sweet, and homelike, mainly by the
assiduities of one confidential servant. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
TRAPP, "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].
Ver. 5. Then called Esther for Hatach] She snuffeth not at Mordecai’s refusal of her
courtesy. She saith not, Let him choose, the next offer shall be worse, Rerum
suarum satagat, si velit, et valeat, &c. Solomon reckoneth among those four things
that the earth cannot bear, a handmaid advanced to the state and place of a
mistress, Proverbs 30:23. But Esther was none such. In her you might have seen
magnitudinem cum mansuetudine, as Seneca hath it, singular humility in height of
honours. She calleth here for Hatach, a faithful servant, and perhaps a Jew, a Jew
inwardly. Honesty flows from piety.
One of the king’s chamberlains] Heb. Eunuchs, or gelded men, such as used to keep
their women in king’s courts. The Chaldees call them rabrebanim, that is, nobles.
The Persians call them spadones, saith Stephanus. The Greeks, eunuchs; either
because they were princes’ chamberlains, and had the custody of their beds: or
because they were egregie cordati homines, well-minded men ( Pαρα το ευνην εχειν
παρα το ευ νουν εχειν): for they generally proved (as likewise now they do among
the Turks) subjects, though not of great courage, yet of the greatest judgment and
fidelity, their minds being set on business rather than on pleasure.
Whom he had appointed to attend upon her] Heb. Whom he had set before her, in

37. obsequium et servitium, to be at her beck and obedience: probably he was happy in
such a service, for goodness is communicative, and of a spreading nature. Plutarch
saith of the neighbour villages of Rome in uma’s time, that sucking in the air of
that city, they breathed δικαιοσυνη, righteousness and devotion; so it might very
well be here. It was so with Abraham’s servants, and Solomon’s, and Cornelius’s,
Acts 10:7. ero complained (and no wonder) that he could never find a faithful
servant. What could they learn from him but villany and cruelty?
And gave him a commandment to Mordecai] i.e. She commanded him to deliver her
mind to Mordecai. A servant is not to be inquisitive, {John 15:15, he knoweth not
what his Lord doth} but executive, ready to do what is required of him. He is the
master’s instrument, and wholly his, Oλως εκεινου, saith Aristotle. The hands must
take counsel of the head, and bestir them.
To know what it was, and why it was] Some great matter she well knew it must
needs be that put him to those loud laments. Wise men cry not till they are sorely
hurt. Job’s stroke was heavier than his groaning, Job 23:2. He was not of those that
are ever whining: like some men’s flesh, if their skin be but razed with a pin, it
presently rankleth and festereth; or like rotten boughs, if a light weight be but hung
on them, they presently creak and break. Mordecai she knew was none such. She
therefore sendeth to see what was the matter, that she might help him, if possible.
The tears and moans of men in misery are not to be slighted, as if they were nothing
to us. Who is afflicted, and I burn not? saith Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:29. Weep with
those that weep, else you add to their grief, Romans 12:15, as the priest and Levite
did, by passing by the wounded man. Is it nothing to you, O ye that pass by the
way? Lamentations 1:12. Are not ye also in the body, Hebrews 13:3, that is, in the
body of flesh and frailty, subject to like afflictions? And may not your sins procure
their sufferings, as a vein is opened in the arm to ease the pain of the head?
LA GE, "Esther 4:5. Mordecai accomplished his object, and Hatach the eunuch
was sent to him to obtain particulars. ָ‫ה‬‫ֶי‬‫נ‬ָ‫פ‬ְ‫ל‬ ‫יד‬ִ‫מ‬ֱ‫ע‬ֶ‫ה‬, the king had appointed Hatach to
serve Esther; hence he belonged to her eunuchs ( Esther 4:4). ‫ַל‬‫ע‬ ‫ֵהוּ‬‫וּ‬ַ‫צ‬ְ‫ַתּ‬‫ו‬, she
commissioned him with respect to or‫ַל‬‫ע‬, substantially similar to ‫ל‬ֵ‫,א‬ “she sent him
to,” (comp. Esther 4:10).
6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open
square of the city in front of the king’s gate.

38. GILL, "So Hatach went forth to Mordecai, unto the street of the city,....
Where he was, in a public manner, expressing his grief and sorrow:
which was before the king's gate: that led to the royal palace.
TRAPP, "Esther 4:6 So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city,
which [was] before the king’s gate.
Ver. 6. So Hatach went forth to Mordecai] He was obedient to his queen mistress,
pleasing her in all things, not answering again, Titus 2:10, unless it were, I will, or
the like. Servus sit monosyllabum Domino. Let the servant be the word of his
master. Apelles painted a servant with hinds’ feet, to run on his master’s errands;
with ass’s ears, and with his mouth made fast with two locks, to signify that he
should be swift to hear, slow to speak.
Unto the street of the city] The broad street, as the word signifieth; Rechob,
πλατεια: there Mordecai kept him, and might not come nearer the court, because a
mourner. See Esther 4:2. Tiberius the emperor, counterfeiting grief at the funeral of
Drusus, there was a veil laid between the dead and him, because being high priest
forsooth, he might not see any mournful object. The statues of the gods were
transported or covered (for like cause) in those places where any punishment was
inflicted. But what saith the wise man? "The heart of the wise is in the house of
mourning" (whereby we must understand any place or object which occasioneth
mourning), "but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth," Ecclesiastes 7:4.
LA GE, "Esther 4:6-11. Here we have the second step. In the face of the greatness
of the danger that threatened the Jews it was hardly to be expected but that
Mordecai should make a request of Esther whose fulfilment would be very serious
in its consequences.
Esther 4:6-7. When Hatach had proceeded to the open place before the palace, he
found Mordecai, who in the hope that Esther would do something more, had
remained there longer or more frequently resorted thither. Then Mordecai
informed him of all that had occurred and that now threatened the Jews, and
mentioned also the sum of money that Haman promised to place in the king’s
treasury, in return for the extermination of the Jews. This he did, no doubt, to show
what low and despicable motives were at play in the matter; and thus he very
naturally hoped to excite the greater indignation and wrath in Esther. She must not
be left to think that Haman had found the Jews guilty of real transgressions when
he obtained the consent of the king. That the king had remitted the money to
Haman, is not referred to here because not pertinent. ‫ה‬ָ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ָר‬‫פּ‬ derived from ‫שׁ‬ ַ‫ָר‬‫פּ‬to cut
off, separate, then to define correctly (comp. Leviticus 24:12), the exact statement of

39. a thing, i.e., here, of the amount, sum of money to be given. For the Jews, to destroy
them, means when the Jews would be surrendered to him with permission to destroy
them. The Kethib form of ‫ִים‬‫יּ‬ִ‫ְהוּד‬‫י‬ is less frequently used for ‫ְהוּים‬‫י‬, which is found in
Esther 8:1; Esther 8:7; Esther 8:13; Esther 9:15; Esther 9:18.
7 Mordecai told him everything that had
happened to him, including the exact amount of
money Haman had promised to pay into the royal
treasury for the destruction of the Jews.
GILL, "And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him,.... How
that, for refusing to reverence Haman, he was incensed against him, and against all the
Jews for his sake; and had vowed revenge on them, and had formed a scheme for the
ruin of them:
and of the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's
treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them the 10,000 talents of silver he proposed
to pay into the king's exchequer in lieu of the Jews' tribute; which Mordecai observes, to
show how bent he was upon the destruction of the Jews, and cared not what it cost him
to gain his point; and perhaps Mordecai as yet might not know that the king had
remitted it.
HE RY, " Mordecai sent her an authentic account of the whole matter, with a charge
to her to intercede with the king in this matter: Mordecai told him all that had
happened unto him (Est_4:7), what a pique Haman had against him for now bowing to
him, and by what arts he had procured this edict; he sent her also a true copy of the
edict, that she might see what imminent danger she and her people were in, and charged
her, if she had any respect for him or any kindness for the Jewish nation, that she should
appear now on their behalf, rectify the misinformations with which the king was
imposed upon, and set the matter in a true light, not doubting but that then he would
vacate the decree.
III. She sent her case to Mordecai, that she could not, without peril of her life, address
the king, and that therefore he put a great hardship upon her in urging her to it. Gladly
would she wait, gladly would she stoop, to do the Jews a kindness; but, if she must run
the hazard of being put to death as a malefactor, she might well say, I pray thee have me
excused, and find out some other intercessor.

40. BE SO , "Esther 4:7-8. And of the sum of money, &c. — amely, the ten
thousand talents he had offered to procure the king’s consent to their destruction.
And to charge her, &c. — ot only in his own name, to whom she had manifested
singular respect, but also in the name of the great God.
TRAPP, "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.
Ver. 7. And Mordecai told him all that had happened unto him] ot by fate or blind
fortune, κατα συγκυριαν (and yet time and chance happeneth to all, Ecclesiastes
9:11, and it was by chance to the wounded man, that the priest and the Levite came
down that way, Luke 10:31), but by the providence of God, which hath a hand in
ordering the most casual and fortuitous events, to the execution of his righteous
counsels; neither is there ever a providence but we shall once see a wonder or a
mercy wrapt up in it.
And of the sum of money] See Esther 3:9. Money is the monarch of this present
world. Money is to many dearer than their heart blood, yet, to gratify their lusts,
they lavish silver out of the bag, and care not to purchase revenge or sensual
delights with misery, beggary, discredit, damnation.
8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict
for their annihilation, which had been published
in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her,
and he told him to instruct her to go into the
king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with
him for her people.
CLARKE, "That she should go in unto the king - The Greek adds, “Remember
the time of your low estate, and in what manner you have been nourished, and carried in
my arms; and that Haman, who is next to the king, has got a decree for our destruction.

41. Pray, therefore, to the Lord, and plead with the king, that we may be delivered from
death.” But there is not a word of this either in the Hebrew, Syriac, or Vulgate.
GILL, "Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given
at Shushan to destroy them,.... Which had now been published in the city; by which
means Mordecai had had a sight of it, and had transcribed it; see Est_3:14
to show it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her; what Haman intended against
the people of the Jews; as the Targum adds:
and to charge her; in his name; whose charges she had always regarded, both before
and since she was queen; or in the name of God:
that she should go in unto the king to make supplication unto him, and to
make request before him for her people; signifying there was a necessity of doing
it speedily, and of urging her request with great earnestness and importunity, since it
was not the life of a single person, but the lives of a body of people, and her own, that lay
at stake.
JAMISO , "charge her that she should go in unto the king — This language is
exceedingly strong. As it can scarcely be supposed that Mordecai was still using
authority over Esther as his adopted daughter, he must be considered as imploring
rather than commanding her, in the name of her brethren and in the name of her God, to
make a direct appeal to the feelings of her royal husband.
K&D, "Est_4:8
Mordochai also gave Hatach a copy of the decree published in Susa (‫ן‬ ָ‫שׁוּשׁ‬ ְ ‫ן‬ ַ ִ‫,נ‬ like Est_
3:15) to show it to the queen. The ָ‫ל‬ ‫יד‬ִ ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫וּל‬ following is more correctly drawn towards the
subsequent ‫ּות‬‫וּ‬ ַ‫צ‬ ְ‫,וּל‬ as by Bertheau, than connected according to the accentuation with
what precedes. Before this infinitive must be supplied from the context, especially from
Est_4:7 : and Mordochai commissioned him or told him (Hatach): to declare unto her
and to command her (Esther) to go in unto the king, to entreat him and to make request
before him for her people. ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫שׁ‬ ֵ ַ , to beg, to make request for something, like Ezr_8:23,
and Est_7:7. ָ ַ‫ע‬ ‫ל‬ ַ‫,ע‬ concerning her people, i.e., in this connection: for them.
TRAPP, "Esther 4:8 Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was
given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew [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.
Ver. 8. Also he gave him the copy of the writing] That she might see it, and rest
assured that it was even so, and no otherwise; and that therefore now or never she
must bestir herself for the labouring Church.

42. That was given at Shushan] Which if ever it were full of judgment, and white as a
lily (according to the name), is now stained with blood of innocents; if ever
righteousness did lodge in it, yet now murderers, as Isaiah 1:21.
To show it unto Esther] That her eye might affect her heart, Lamentations 3:51, and
her heart set all awork for her people; that is, herself, according to that, "Physician,
heal thyself"; that is, thine own countrymen, Luke 4:23.
And to declare it unto her] In the cause, viz. his refusing to bow to Haman against
his conscience (whereof it no whit repented him); and in the several circumstances
laid forth in the liveliest colours, for her thorough information.
And to charge her that she should go in unto the king] Hoc perquam durum est, sed
ita lex scripta est, This was extremely hard, but so the law was written, saith the
civilian. This Mordecai knew would hardly be done; he, therefore, makes use of his
ancient authority, and sets it on with greatest earnestness. So St Paul, "I charge you
by the Lord," 1 Thessalonians 5:27. And, again, "I charge thee before God, and the
Lord Jesus Christ," &c., 2 Timothy 4:1. So St Austin to his hearers, Per tremendum
Dei iudicium vos adiuro, I require and charge you by that dreadful day of
judgment, when that doom’s day book shall be opened, &c. It is a weakness to be
hot in a cold matter, but it is a wickedness to be cold in a hot matter. He that is
earnest in good, though he may carry some things indiscreetly, yet is he far better
than a time server, and a cold friend to the truth; like as in falling forward is
nothing so much danger as in falling backward. Eli was to blame with his - Do no
more so, my sons. And so was Jehoshaphat with his - Let not the king say so. And
the people in Ahab’s time, who, when they were pressed to express whom they were
for, God or Baal? they answered not a word, 1 Kings 18:21. And yet how many such
cold friends hath the truth today! lukewarm Laodiceans, neuter passive Christians!
&c. When Callidus once declared against Gallus with a faint and languishing voice,
Oh, saith Cicero, Tu nisi fingeres, sic ageres? Wouldest thou plead on that manner if
thou wert in good earnest? Men’s faint appearing for God’s cause shows they do but
feign; their coldness probably concludeth they do but counterfeit. Mordecai plays
the man, and chargeth Esther to improve her interest in the king, her husband, for
the Church’s deliverance. See here how he turneth every stone, tradeth every talent,
leaveth no means unused, no course unattempted for the saints’ safety. And this the
Spirit of God hath purposely recorded, that all may learn to lay out themselves to
the utmost for the public; to be most zealous for the conservation and defence of the
Church when it is afflicted and opposed by persecutors; seeing they cannot be saved
unless she be in safety; neither can they have God for their Father unless they love
and observe this their dear mother. Utinam, iterum autem utinam diligentius a
cunctis ordinibus haec hodie considerarentur, saith one. Oh that these things were
duly considered by all sorts today!

43. To make supplication unto him] Heb. To deprecate displeasure and mischief, as 1
Kings 8:28, Zechariah 12:10.
And to make request before him] Ad quaerendum a facie eius; so Pagnine from the
Hebrew, to seek for good from his face, an effectul smile, a gracious aspect, that they
may live in his sight. For, "in the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his
favour is as a cloud of the latter rain," Proverbs 16:15. The ancient Persian kings
were most fond of their wives, doing them all the honour possible in court, as
partakers of all their fortunes, and carried them and their children into their
farthest wars; by the presence of so dear pledges, the more to encourage their minds
in time of battle. ow, therefore, Esther (whom Herodotus also witnesseth to have
been Xerxes’ best beloved) is to try what she can do with him for her people, who
were haply grown too secure upon Esther’s preferment; as the French Churches
also were upon the queen of avarre’s greatness, and the promise of peace by that
match. God, therefore, shortly after shook them up, not by shaking his rod only at
them, as here at these Jews, but by permitting that bloody massacre.
LA GE, "Esther 4:8. Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that
was given at Shushan (comp. Esther 3:15), to destroy them, i. e., which ordered
them to be destroyed. ‫ֶן‬‫ג‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ְ‫ַת‬‫פּ‬ could here have the meaning of “copy;” but the
rendering “contents” of the writing of the decree is preferable, (comp. Ezra 4:11).
Possibly Mordecai had briefly noted down the substance of the decree. To shew (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.—‫ִיּד‬‫גּ‬ַ‫ה‬ְ‫ל‬‫,וּ‬ contrary to the accents, is by
Bertheau and Keil connected with what follows, as if it were the same in sense with
ָ‫ה‬‫ֶי‬‫ל‬ָ‫ע‬ ‫ַוּוֹת‬‫ע‬ְ‫ל‬. But it rather belongs to what precedes according to its import. Hatach
was to show the writing to Esther and give her the substance of the information it
conveyed. It is quite possible that Esther could read it herself; Mordecai sent the
copy for the purpose of enabling Hatach to give the proper meaning of its contents.
The infinitives with ְ‫לּ‬ are here best translated by “in order that.” To declare
(explain) it unto her, and to charge her to go in unto the king, to make supplication
unto him … for her people.— ‫ֵשׁ‬‫ק‬ַ‫בּ‬ with ‫ַל‬‫ע‬ here, as in Esther 7:7. means: to entreat,
supplicate for something diligently (comp. Ezra 8:23). She should petition relief for
her people.
PULPIT, "Also he gave him the copy. In the original it is "a copy." Mordecai had
had a copy made for the purpose of handing it to Esther. To make request to him
for her people. If this was the phrase used by Mordecai to Hatach, Esther's
nationality must now have ceased to be a secret, at any rate so far as her immediate
attendants were concerned. Probably Mordecai felt that the truth must now be
declared. It was only as the compatriots of the queen that he could expect to get the
Jews spared
BI, "And to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto

44. him.
A resolute will
In the meantime, this lesson may be drawn from his conduct—that a resolute will, when
it is exerted for the accomplishment of any purpose, is usually successful in the end. The
triumphs of the Reformation, for example, in our own country and in other lands, where
it did triumph, while they are really to be ascribed to the overruling providence of God,
are instrumentally to be attributed to this, that God raised up and qualified for the work
certain men of determined will and unflagging energy, who kept before them the great
purpose which they sought to effect, and would be turned aside by no danger or
difficulty from working it out. And I would remark, that in things spiritual—in things
affecting the eternal salvation of man—resoluteness of will and indomitable energy are as
indispensable as in the pursuit of temporal good. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Human sympathy
How ardently Mordecai is coveting the sympathy of one whom his self-sacrifice elevated
to a position above his own! Human sympathy, exhibited in practical ways, proves
wondrous in power, multiplying joys and dividing sorrows. It is like sunshine upon
rosebuds, unfolding hidden beauty and evoking new fragrance. Like May breezes upon
consumptive cheeks, it brings back the glow of health where pallor of death has been,
and paints cheerfulness where despondency has been brooding too long already. It is a
contribution of the heart more priceless than the wealth of the Indies. It may be
incapable of explaining the mysteries of providence; it may be disqualified for
recommending resignation to the Divine will; possibly it may be powerless in affecting
deliverance; but when genuine it possesses inestimable value, though it may not open
avenues from Marah to the land of Beulah. (J. S. Van Dyke, D. D.)
9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what
Mordecai had said.
GILL, "And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. Both the
case of the Jews, and the cause of it, and what he would have her do at this critical
juncture.
K&D 9-11, "When Hatach brought this information to Esther, she sent word by him
to Mordochai, that she might not go in unto the king unsummoned. ‫ל‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫מ‬ ‫הוּ‬ֵ‫וּ‬ ַ‫צ‬ ְ , she
ordered or commissioned him to Mordochai, viz., to tell him what follows, Est_4:11 :

45. “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces (i.e., all the officers and
subjects of the king) know, that with respect to every man or woman that shall come in
unto the king, into the inner court, that is not called - one (the same) law (is) for him: to
put (him) to death, except him to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that
he may live.” ‫ה‬ ָ ִ‫לוא‬ ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫ל־א‬ ָⅴ precede as nominativi absol.; these are followed by two
relative clauses, which are succeeded by the anacoluthic predicate ‫ּו‬‫ת‬ ָ ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ፍ: one and the
same law is for him (‫ּו‬‫ת‬ ָ , the law concerning him, the unsummoned appearer, the matter
of which is briefly stated by ‫ית‬ ִ‫מ‬ ָ‫ה‬ ְ‫.)ל‬ In the inner court dwelt the king, seated on his
throne (comp. Est_5:1). The law, that every one entering unbidden should be put to
death, was subject to but one exception: ‫וגו‬ ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ‫ד‬ ַ‫ב‬ ְ‫,ל‬ except him to whom the king
stretches out, etc. ‫יט‬ ִ‫ּושׁ‬‫ה‬ from ‫ט‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ָ‫,י‬ appearing only in the present book (Est_5:2; Est_8:4),
but frequently in Chaldee and Syriac, signifies to hold out, to extend, with ‫ּו‬‫ל‬, to or
towards him. ‫יט‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫,שׁ‬ the Aramaic form for ‫ט‬ ֶ‫ב‬ ֶ‫,שׁ‬ sceptre. Access to the royal presence had
been already rendered difficult by an edict issued by Dejokes the Mede, Herod. 1:9; and
among the Persians, none, with the exception of a few individuals (Herod. iii. 118), were
permitted to approach the king without being previously announced (Herod. iii. 140;
Corn. Nepos, Conon, 3). Any one entering unannounced was punished with death,
unless the king, according to this passage, gave it to be understood by stretching forth
his sceptre that he was to remain unpunished. It is, however, self-evident, and the fact is
confirmed by Herod. iii. 140, that any who desired audience were allowed to announce
themselves. Esther might, it seems, have done this. Why, then, did she not make the
attempt? The answer lies in her further message to Mordochai: “and I have not been
called to come in unto the king these thirty days.” From these words it appears, that
formerly she had been more frequently summoned before the king. Now, however, a
whole month had passed without any invitation. Hence she concluded that the king did
not much wish to see her, and for this reason dared not go unto him unbidden.
Evidently, too, she was unwilling to be announced, because in that case she would have
been obliged immediately to make known to the king the cause of her desiring this
interview. And this she would not venture to do, fearing that, considering the great
favour in which Haman stood with the king, she might, if she did not provoke his
displeasure against herself through her intercession for her people, at least meet with a
rejection of her petition. To set aside an irrevocable decree sealed with the king's seal,
must have appeared to Esther an impossible undertaking. To have asked such a thing of
the king would have been indeed a bold venture.
COFFMA , "Verse 9
MORDECAI'S REQUEST OF ESTHER LOADED WITH DA GER
"And Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. Then Esther spake
unto Hathach, and gave him a message unto Mordecai, saying All the king's
servants, and the people of the kinifs provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether
man or woman, shall come unto the king in the inner court, who is not called, there
is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king shall hold
out the golden sceptre, that he might live: but I have not been called to come in to
the king these thirty days. and they told to Moredecai Esther's words."

46. "The golden sceptre" (Esther 4:11). "In all of the numerous representations of
Persian kings (by sculptors and inscriptions recovered by archaeologists), the king
holds a long tapering staff (the sceptre of Esther)."[7] Death was the penalty for any
person who came unbidden into the private area of a Persian king.
Esther did not by this reply refuse to accept Mordecai's charge; she merely apprised
him of the extreme danger to herself in such a request. Esther was also apprehensive
that the king had not invited her into his presence in a month, indicating that his
love for her had cooled, and that at that time the king might have been sensually
involved with someone else. There was certainly no guarantee that the king would
be pleased by her coming uninvited into his presence.
TRAPP, "Esther 4:9 And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.
Ver. 9. And Hatach came and told Esther] He acted the part of a faithful messenger:
so must ministers, those servants of the Churches, declare unto the people all the
mind of God, Acts 20:27, and not steal God’s word every one from his neighbour,
Jeremiah 23:30, not deal deceitfully with it, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the
sight of God, let them speak in Christ; and let them speak out, not fearing any
colours. He that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully, saith God,
Jeremiah 23:28. Aaron’s bells were all of gold; the trumpets of the sanctuary were
of pure silver; they did not (as those inverse trumpets of Furius Fulvius) sound a
retreat, when they should have sounded an alarm; no more must God’s messengers.
Whatsoever the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak, saith Micaiah. Paul, as he
received what he delivered, so he delivered whatsoever he received, 1 Corinthians
11:23. Moses was faithful in all God’s house, &c., Hebrews 3:5.
LA GE, "Esther 4:9-11. Mordecai elicited only the answer: 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, etc.— ‫ה‬ָ‫ישׁ‬ִ‫ְא‬‫ו‬ ‫שׁ‬ִ‫ָל־א‬‫כּ‬ is prefixed as a om. absol. The
predicate with ‫תוֹ‬ָ‫דּ‬ ‫ַת‬‫ח‬‫אַ‬ follows as an anacoluthon: “one is his law,” (i.e, one law
extends to all. ‫תוֹ‬ָ‫דּ‬ is the law having reference in his case. Its substance reads briefly:
‫ית‬ִ‫מ‬ָ‫ה‬ְ‫ל‬to kill, i. e., him. One was not even allowed to enter the inner court-yard, much
less the king’s palace. That the king resided in the inner court before the royal
house (Bertheau and Keil), would not follow from Esther 5:1. Every one was to be
killed, except him toward whom the king extended the golden sceptre. ‫ן‬ִ‫מ‬ ‫ַד‬‫ב‬ְ‫ל‬, except,
as for example, Exodus 12:23; Joshua 17:5. ‫יט‬ ִ‫,הוֹשׁ‬ from ‫,ישׁט‬ found only in this book
(in Esther 5:2; Esther 8:4), in the Aramaic tongue signifies “to reach out towards, to
extend,” and is connected with ‫שׁוט‬,‫שׁט‬ . In the time of Deioces the Mede, approach to
the king was already very difficult (Herod. I:9); and among the Persians, with very
few exceptions (Herod. III:118), no one was permitted to approach the king without
a notice (comp. Esther 1:14; and Herod. III:140; also C. ep. Conon, c3). According
to our verse the sense of the law is not that no one should approach unannounced,
but that no one should approach unless called. But the sense of both is the same. If
one must give due notice of approach, one must first be also accepted; but to be
accepted is to be called. As regards that law any one was free to give notice of his

47. approach (comp. Herodot. III:140), and hence arises the question, why Esther kept
this privilege out of sight. Josephus says (Antiq. XI:6, 3) that the husband of Esther
(according to him Artaxerxes) forbade his people, by a special law, to approach him
while he sat upon the throne. But he would manifestly give greater weight to our
explanation. If we desire to find the correct answer we must not overlook the
remark of Esther, that she had not been called to the king for now thirty days.[F 5]
Possibly she apprehended that the king had become somewhat indifferent to her,
and that, if she were to announce herself without being called by him, she would be
refused admittance to his presence. This would have made the venture still more
dangerous. According to Esther 3:7, nearly five years had passed since their
marriage. Hence she had possibly been somewhat forgotten. It could hardly appear
otherwise in her eyes than that it was best to approach the king unannounced and
place reliance on the fact that her appearance should kindle his love anew.[F 6]
10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai,
GILL, "Again Esther spake unto Hatach,.... For there was no other way of
corresponding and conversing but by an eunuch; the wives of kings being altogether
under their watch and care:
and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; to go unto him, and what he should
say to him from her, which is as follows.
TRAPP, "Esther 4:10 Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him
commandment unto Mordecai;
Ver. 10. Again Esther spake unto Hatack] Having before found him a fit and
faithful messenger, she further employeth him; so those that minister well do
purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in
Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 3:13, when others shall be laid by as broken vessels,
whereof there is not left a sheard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water with
it from the pit, as the prophet hath it, Isaiah 30:14.

48. 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the
royal provinces know that for any man or woman
who approaches the king in the inner court
without being summoned the king has but one
law: that they be put to death unless the king
extends the gold scepter to them and spares their
lives. But thirty days have passed since I was
called to go to the king.”
BAR ES, "The golden scepter - In all the numerous representations of Persian
kings at Persepolis the monarch holds a long tapering staff (probably the scepter of
Esther) in his right hand. It was death to intrude on the privacy of the Persian king
uninvited.
CLARKE, "Into the inner court - We have already seen that the Persian
sovereigns affected the highest degree of majesty, even to the assuming of Divine
honors. No man nor woman dared to appear unveiled before them, without hazarding
their lives; into the inner chamber of the harem no person ever entered but the king, and
the woman he had chosen to call thither. None even of his courtiers or ministers dared
to appear there; nor the most beloved of his concubines, except led thither by himself, or
ordered to come to him. Here was Esther’s difficulty; and that difficulty was now
increased by the circumstance of her not having been sent for to the king’s bed for thirty
days. In the last verse of the preceding chapter we find that the king and Haman sat
down to drink. It is very likely that this wicked man had endeavored to draw the king’s
attention from the queen, that his affection might be lessened, as he must have known
something of the relationship between her and Mordecai; and consequently viewed her
as a person who, in all probability, might stand much in the way of the accomplishment
of his designs. I cannot but think that he had been the cause why Esther had not seen the
king for thirty days.
GILL, "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces do
know,.... Not only the princes and courtiers, but all the king's subjects, the meanest of
them; there is scarce a person throughout the whole empire, to whom the following law
is not known; this is said, to show how notorious it was:

49. 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;
according to the former Targum, Human got this law to be made now, to prevent any
application to the king about this affair; but then it would not have been so universally
known as before declared; and it appears that there was such a law among the Medes,
made by Dejoces, that none should go into the king's presence, but all should be done by
messengers (b); and this was altered among the Persians, for the seven princes that slew
Smerdis made an agreement, that whoever of them was chosen king, the rest should
have the liberty of going unto him when they pleased, without a messenger to introduce
them (c); it seems by this account it was death to go into the inner parlour, where the
king usually was, without leave, or being called; this was made both for the king's safety,
and for awe and reverence of his majesty, and to prevent any insinuations into him by ill-
designing persons:
except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may
live; which, whether he would or not, was very precarious; so that a person ran a great
risk to go in uncalled:
but I have not been called to go in unto the king these thirty days; which
looked as if the king had not that fond affection for her he formerly had; and therefore
there was greater danger in going in to him uncalled, and the less hope of success.
HE RY, "The law was express, and all knew it, that whosoever came to the king
uncalled should be put to death, unless he was pleased to hold out the golden sceptre to
them, and it was extremely doubtful whether she should find him in so good a humour,
Est_4:11. This law was made, not so much in prudence, for the greater safety of the
king's person, as in pride, that being seldom seen, and not without great difficulty, he
might be adored as a little god. A foolish law it was; for, (1.) It made the kings themselves
unhappy, confining them to their retirements for fear they should be seen. This made the
royal palace little better than a royal prison, and the kings themselves could not but
become morose, and perhaps melancholy, and so a terror to others and a burden to
themselves. Many have their lives made miserable by their own haughtiness and ill
nature. (2.) It was bad for the subjects; for what good had they of a king that they might
never have liberty to apply to for the redress of grievances and appeal to from the
inferior judges? It is not thus in the court of the King of kings; to the footstool of his
throne of grace we may at any time come boldly, and may be sure of an answer of peace
to the prayer of faith. We are welcome, not only into the inner court, but even into the
holiest, through the blood of Jesus. (3.) It was particularly very uncomfortable for their
wives (for there was not a proviso in the law to except them), who were bone of their
bone and flesh of their flesh. But perhaps it was wickedly intended as much against them
as any other, that the kings might the more freely enjoy their concubines, and Esther
knew it. Miserable was the kingdom when the princes framed their laws to serve their
lusts.
2. Her case was at present very discouraging. Providence so ordered it that, just at this
juncture, she was under a cloud, and the king's affections cooled towards her, for she
had been kept from his presence thirty days, that her faith and courage might be the
more tried, and that God's goodness in the favour she now found with the king
notwithstanding might shine the brighter. It is probable that Haman endeavoured by
women, as well as wine, to divert the king from thinking of what he had done, and then

50. Esther was neglected, from whom no doubt he did what he could to alienate the king,
knowing her to be averse to him.
JAMISO , "whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king
into the inner court, who is not called — The Persian kings surrounded themselves
with an almost impassable circle of forms. The law alluded to was first enacted by
Deioces, king of Media, and afterwards, when the empires were united, adopted by the
Persians, that all business should be transacted and petitions transmitted to the king
through his ministers. Although the restriction was not intended, of course, to apply to
the queen, yet from the strict and inflexible character of the Persian laws and the
extreme desire to exalt the majesty of the sovereign, even his favorite wife had not the
privilege of entree, except by special favor and indulgence. Esther was suffering from the
severity of this law; and as, from not being admitted for a whole month to the king’s
presence, she had reason to fear that the royal affections had become alienated from her,
she had little hope of serving her country’s cause in this awful emergency.
BE SO , "Esther 4:11. Whosoever shall come into the inner court — Within which
the king’s residence and throne were; who is not called — This was decreed to
maintain both the majesty and the safety of the king’s person; and by the
contrivance of the greater officers of state, that few or none might have access to the
king but themselves and their friends. I have not been called, &c. — Which gives me
just cause to fear that the king’s affections are alienated from me, and that neither
my person nor petition will be acceptable to him.
COKE, "Esther 4:11. Whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the
king— Ever since the reign of Dejoces king of Media, Herodotus informs us, for the
preservation of royal majesty, it was enacted, that no one should be admitted into
the king's presence; but that if he had any business with him, he should transact it
through the medium of his ministers. The custom passed from the Medes to the
Persians; and therefore we find in the same historian, lib. 3: that after the seven
princes had killed the magician who had usurped the throne, they came to this
agreement, that whoever should be elected king should allow the others to have at
all times a ready access to his presence (which is an implication that they had it not
before), except only when he was in company with any of his wives. This, therefore,
was the ancient law of the country, and not procured by Haman, as some imagine:
though it cannot be denied that the reason at first might be, not only the
preservation of the king's person, but a contrivance likewise of the great officers of
state, that they might engross the king to themselves, by allowing admittance to none
but whom they should think proper to introduce. See Le Clerc.
ELLICOTT, "(11) There is one law of his . . .—Literally, one is his law, that is, there
is one unvarying rule for such. o one who had not been summoned might enter the
king’s presence under pain of death.
The golden sceptre—We are told that in the representations of Persian kings at
Persepolis, in every case the monarch holds a long staff or sceptre in his right hand.
How forcibly, after reading this verse, the contrast strikes us between the self-styled

51. king of kings, to enter into whose presence even as a suppliant for help and
protection was to risk death, and the King of Kings, who has Himself instructed
man to say, “Let us go into His tabernacle and fall low on our knees before His
footstool.”
TRAPP, "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.
Ver. 11. All the king’s servants] His courtiers and counsellors, who haply were as
very slaves to him, as now the greatest lords of the court are to the Great Turk; no
man having any power over himself, much less is be master of the house wherein he
dwelleth, or of the land which he tilleth, but is in danger of being whipped upon the
least displeasure of the tyrant, especially if he be not a natural Turk born.
And the people of the king’s provinces, do know] i.e. All, both far and near: this
shows that the law here mentioned was no new law procured by Haman, to prevent
Jewish suppliants, as Lyra would have it, but long since made, and known to all the
king’s subjects.
That whosoever, whether man or woman] Yea, though she be his dearest consort,
who should cohabit with him, and not be sundered for a season but by consent, 1
Corinthians 7:5.
Shall come unto the king] The Persians usually hid their king, tanquam aliquod
sacrum mysterium, as some precious business, and that for two reasons. First, for
state and authority, lest familiarity with their subjects should breed contempt, and
make them too cheap. Philip II, King of Spain, was of the same mind and practice.
For, after that he had gotten into his hands the kingdom of Portugal, and therewith
the wealth of the Indies, inclusit se in Curiali, he shut up and immured himself in his
court, and was seldom seen of any, though never so great a man, but upon long suit,
and as a singular favour. This made him to be adored as a demi-god. Secondly, for
security and safety, lest, if all should be suffered to come that would, the king should
be assassinated and made away, as Eglon was by Ehud; Ishbosheth, by Baanah and
Rechab; Gedaliah, by Ishmael; and many kings of Israel and emperors of Rome
were by their own servants. The Turks at this day allow no stranger to come into the
presence of their emperor, but first they search him that he have no weapon; and so,
clasping him by the arms, under colour of doing him honour, dissemblingly they
bereave him of the use of his hands, lest he should offer him any violence; yet hath
he alway, as he sitteth in his throne, lying at hand ready by him, a target, a scimitar,
an iron mace, with bow and arrows.
- Sors ista tyrannis

52. Muniti ut gladiis vivant, cinctique venenis.
How much better Agesilaus, king of Spartans, who walked daily among his subjects,
doing justice, and is, therefore, by Xenophon worthily preferred before this stately
king of Persia! How much better Queen Elizabeth, who often showed herself to her
people, and cheerfully received bouquets, flowers, rosemary, from lowly persons.
She got the heart of her subjects (which Philip of Spain, her stately contemporary,
never could do), by coupling mildness with majesty, and stooping, yet in a stately
manner, to those of low condition. So reserved she was, that all about her stood in a
reverent awe of her very presence and aspect, but much more of her least frown or
check; wherewith some of them, who thought they might presume of her favour,
have been so suddenly daunted and planet-stricken, {to strike as a malignant
influence, to blast} that they could not lay down the grief thereof but in their graves
(Speed, 1235).
There is one law of his] A wretched law it was, written not with black, but with
blood, and condemned by very heathens for barbarous and pernicious to the public.
For if the king may not be come at, but upon pain of death, what shall become of the
poor oppressed? and how shall he ever hear of the rapines and other miscarriages of
his favourites and junior officers, by whom he shall be even bought and sold, and
himself never the wiser, as Aurelian, the emperor, complained. Orpheus, that oldest
of poets, feigneth, that Litae (or petitions) are Jove’s daughters, and ever conversant
about his throne. David heard the woman of Tekoa; Solomon the two harlots; and
King Joram the affamished woman that called to him for justice with, Help, O king;
Philip, of Macedon, righted the old wife that checked him for his neglect of her; and
Trajan, the widow that would not be put off till another time (Plutarch). This was
king-like; his office is to judge the people with righteousness, and the poor with
judgment. He shall judge the poor of the people … and break in pieces the
oppressor, Psalms 72:2; Psalms 72:4.
To put him to death] Yανατος η ζηµια (Athenaeus). o such danger in approaching
God’s presence: he soliciteth suitors, and seeketh such as may come before him,
John 4:23. This was anciently figured by the door of the tabernacle, not made of any
hard or debarring matter, but of a veil easily penetrable; which also now is rent, to
show our easy access to him, who heareth prayers, and willeth that all flesh come
unto him, lifting up in all places pure hands, without wrath, and without doubting,
Psalms 65:2, 1 Timothy 2:8.
Except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre] In token that he
called for them. Thus whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive, as
Daniel 5:19. But Esther should (as afterwards she did) have trusted God with her
life; and with a Roman resolution have said, ecesse est ut eam, non ut vivam: It is

53. necessary that I venture, not that I live. That she was fearful when her life lay upon
it, we may impute to the weakness of her sex, or rather of her faith; against which
sense fights sore when it is upon its own dunghill; I mean, in a sensible danger.
ature’s retraction of itself, from a visible fear, may cause the pulse of a Christian,
that beats truly and strongly in the main point (the state of the soul), to intermit and
falter at such a time. Abraham showed some trepidation, and Peter much more.
But I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days] There was hot
love the while; his concubines, perhaps, had engrossed him. Doves are said to draw
the chariot of Venus; and those neither change their mates nor forsake their
company. Haman was all the doer now about the king, as our King Richard II’s
favourites, knights of Venus rather than Bellona, saith the chronicler, conversing
with the king, not without suspicion of foul familiarity, as Walsingham writeth.
Sodomitica labe infecti fere omnes, saith another (Speed. 746).
WHEDO , "11. The inner court — The court that faced the principal audience hall
— the throne chamber — where alone it would be practicable for Esther to see the
king on such a business. See on Esther 5:1.
There is one law of his to put him to death — Literally, one is his law to put to
death; that is, the king’s law or custom is one and unchangeable — to put such
intruders to death. This law receives confirmation from Herodotus, 3:84, 118.
Hold out the golden sceptre — “In all the numerous representations of Persian
kings at Persepolis, there is not one in which the monarch does not hold a long,
tapering staff in his right hand.” — Rawlinson. This was one of the emblems of
royalty which he seems ever to have had about his person.
But I have not been called… these thirty days — This was Esther’s greatest
difficulty. At other times, when her intercourse with the king was frequent, she
might have ventured, with little or no fear, unbidden into his presence. But not
having been invited to go in to the king for a month, she had reason to fear that he
did not wish to see her, and it would be specially perilous to approach him publicly
in the great throne chamber.
We have here a glimpse of female life in the harem of a Persian king. Days and
months might elapse, and a wife not see her lord. How could it well be otherwise,
where wives and concubines were numbered by hundreds? Herodotus says (iii, 79)
that the Persian wives visited their husbands by turns, but this rule was probably
not regularly followed.
PULPIT, "All the king's servants seems to mean here "all the court," "all those in
the immediate service of the king." The inner court. The palace had, as it would
seem, only two courts, the "outward court" of Esther 6:4, and the "inner court" of
the present passage. There is one law of his to put him to death. Rather, "there is
one law for him. 'Whoever he be, there is one and the same law regarding him—he

54. must suffer death. Herodotus excepts six persons from the operation of this law, but
in making the exception shows the general rule to have been such as here
represented. Except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre. o
other writer tells us of this custom, but it is in perfect harmony with Oriental habits
and modes of thought. Some have objected that the king would not always have a
golden sceptre by him; but the Persepolitan sculptures uniformly represent him
with a long tapering staff in his hand, which is probably the "sceptre" (sharbith) of
Esther. I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. The king s
passion had cooled, and Esther now, like his other wives, waited her occasional
summons to his presence. She had not been called for a whole month, and did not
know when a summons might come. It would not do to trust to so mere a chance;
and therefore, if she was to interpose on behalf of her nation, she must intrude on
the king uninvited, and risk being put to death.
12 When Esther’s words were reported to
Mordecai,
GILL, "And they told to Mordecai Esther's, words. The messengers she sent to
him.
K&D 12-14, "When what Esther said was reported to Mordochai, he sent word back
to her (‫יב‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫:)ה‬ “Think not in thy soul (with thyself) to be saved in the house of the king
above all the Jews; for if thou holdest thy peace at this time, recovery and deliverance
will arise from another place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And
who knows if thou hast attained to royalty for a time such as this?” By the words: “Think
not that thou wilt be saved in the king's house above all the Jew,” i.e., alone of all the
Jews, Mordochai does not reproach Esther with being indifferent to the fate of her
fellow-countrymen, but rather calls her attention to the fact that her own life is in
danger. This is evident from the clause: if thou hold thy peace, will not intercede with the
king for thy people, help will come from some other quarter. ‫ח‬ַ‫ו‬ ֶ‫ר‬ = ‫ה‬ ָ‫ח‬ָ‫ו‬ ְ‫,ר‬ Exo_8:11,
ᅊναψύξις, deliverance from oppressive restraint. ‫ּוד‬‫מ‬ ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫,י‬ rise up, arise, used according to
later custom for ‫,קוּם‬ as in 1Ch_20:4. The thought is: the Jewish nation cannot perish, its
continuance is guaranteed by the divine promise. If thou wilt venture nothing for its

55. safety, God will bring deliverance, but destruction will come upon thee and thy family.
Though Mordochai neither speaks of God, nor alludes directly to His assistance, he still
grounds his hopes of the preservation of his people upon the word and promise of God,
and Brentius pertinently remarks: habes hic excellentem ac plane heroicam Mardochaei
fidem, qua in praesentissimo ac periculosissimo discrimine videt futuram liberationem.
The last clause of Est_4:14 is by most expositors understood as saying: and who knows
whether thou hast not for a time like this attained to royalty? This agrees with the sense,
but cannot be verbally justified, for ‫ם‬ ִ‫א‬ does not mean whether not. The sentence
contains an aposiopesis. The clause depending on the conditional ‫ם‬ ִ‫א‬ is unspoken, but
understood. Besides, ְ ַ‫ע‬ַ ִ‫ה‬ is not in the imperfect. Hence it can only be translated: Who
knows, if thou hadst not attained to royalty at or for such a time? Then the clause
omitted would be: what thou then wouldst have done. ַ‫ע‬ ֵ‫ּוד‬‫י‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫מ‬ more frequently has the
meaning of perhaps; and Mordochai says: perhaps thou hast attained to royalty (to the
dignity of queen) for a time like this, sc. to use thy position for the deliverance of thy
people. In the turn thus given to the sentence it contains the most urgent injunction to
Esther to use her high position for the preservation of her fellow-countrymen.
TRAPP, "Esther 4:12 And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.
Ver. 12. And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words] {See Trapp on "Esther 4:9"}
She would have been her own messenger, but might not. The greatest are not always
the happiest. The Lady Elizabeth once wished herself a merry milk maid.
LA GE, "Esther 4:12-17. The third step. In order to move Esther to a compliance
with his request, despite her hesitation, Mordecai had it reported to her ( Esther
4:13): Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than
all the Jews.-—To be saved does not here mean, if I only am saved, the others do not
concern me, as if Mordecai would warn her of a selfish and indifferent feeling
toward her people. But the sense is: “Do not think that thou shalt escape, or that
thou art better off.” This is clear from Esther 4:14 : For if thou altogether holdest
thy peace, not making intercession with the king, 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, i. e., be not better off, but worse. That the entire
Jewish people cannot be thus destroyed is a matter self-evident to Mordecai. This is
an incontestable truth, under all circumstances, which in his mind is made sure by
the divine promises. And although neither God nor God’s assurances are here
mentioned, still, as is justly remarked by Brenz: “We have this noble and clearly
heroic faith of Mordecai, which sees the future deliverance, even amidst the most
immediate and imminent danger.” Those Jews only can and must be destroyed, in
his opinion, who, when it concerns the preservation of the people, do not perform
their duty. It is very improbable that he should think that Haman has not power
sufficient to cause the destruction of the Jewish nation as a whole, but merely of that
detested Mordecai and his family, hence also Esther, must die (Bertheau,—
otherwise he would not have said: “thou and thy father’s house,” but “thy father’s
house and thou, ye shall perish.” He here makes reference rather to a divine

56. punishment that shall come upon Esther first, but on her account also upon her
father’s house. ‫ָחה‬‫ו‬ ְ‫ר‬=‫ַח‬‫ו‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ( Exodus 8:11) means relief from pressure because of want
of air. ‫ַד‬‫מ‬ַ‫ע‬ in later language may have been given the meaning of ‫,קּוּם‬ so that it
should mean to arise, to go forth, to be ( 1 Chronicles 20:4). But it may also signify:
deliverance will be established (Bertheau), or stand ready. The “other place” is not
God as immediate for help, but another agent of God, in contrast with Esther.
Mordecai means: God will find other instruments whom He will employ, if thou wilt
not serve Him The last sentence of Esther 4:14, Isaiah, by most interpreters,
declared to mean: “And who knows but that thou hast been elevated to be queen for
just such an emergency as this, where there is danger, which thou shouldst assist in
averting, so that thou canst easily help. But if thou wilt not help, thou wilt not
escape an especially severe sentence.” But to take ‫ם‬ִ‫א‬ in the sense of ‫ֲלא‬‫ה‬, is to say the
least, venturesome, and cannot be justified by the fact that ַ‫ע‬ֵ‫ֹד‬ ‫י‬ ‫י‬ִ‫מ‬ is sometimes, (but
without ‫ם‬ִ‫)א‬ used in the sense of perhaps ( 2 Samuel 12:22; Joel 2:14; Jonah 3:9).
Again it does not correspond to the sense of “if,” “whether;” and we may say with
Bertheau: “Who knows, when thou hast approached the royal throne
(beseechingly), what then shall happen, whether the king will not receive you
graciously;” or again, as Keil says: “Who knows but that thou hast attained to
royalty for just such a time as this (as was no doubt true), what shall then be done
by thee?” Mordecai would perhaps say, by way of adding to the before-expressed
threat, “Thou shalt be destroyed, if thou art silent: and who knows whether thou
shalt really be courageous enough to speak for us, and thereby manifest to us that,
for just such a time as this thou wast elevated to royal dignity?” A doubt such as this
would evidently be the most powerful incentive to her to do what was requested of
her.
13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that
because you are in the king’s house you alone of
all the Jews will escape.
CLARKE, "Think not - that thou shalt escape - This confirms the suspicion that
Haman knew something of the relationship between Mordecai and Esther; and therefore
he gives her to understand that, although in the king’s palace, she should no more escape

57. than the Jews.
GILL, "Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther,.... Gave in charge to the
messengers what they should say to Esther from him, by way of reply:
think not with thyself that thou shall escape in the king's house, more than
all the Jews; signifying that her being queen, and in the king's palace, would be no
protection to her; and she would be no safer there than the Jews elsewhere, since they
had no greater enemies any where than in the king's court; and it was or would be known
of what nation she was, and therefore must not expect to escape the fury of the enemy.
HE RY 13-14, " Mordecai still insisted upon it that, whatever hazard she might run,
she must apply to the king in this great affair, Est_4:13, Est_4:14. No excuse will serve,
but she must appear an advocate in this cause; he suggested to her, 1. That it was her
own cause, for that the decree to destroy all the Jews did not except here: “Think not
therefore that thou shalt escape in the king's house, that the palace will be thy
protection, and the crown save thy head: no, thou art a Jewess, and, if the rest be cut off,
thou wilt be cut off too.” It was certainly her wisdom rather to expose herself to a
conditional death from her husband than to a certain death from her enemy. 2. That it
was a cause which, one way or other, would certainly be carried, and which therefore she
might safely venture in. “If thou shouldst decline the service, enlargement and
deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place.” This was the language of a strong
faith, which staggered not at the promise when the danger was most threatening, but
against hope believed in hope. Instruments may fail, but God's covenant will not. 3. That
if she deserted her friends now, through cowardice and unbelief, she would have reason
to fear that some judgment from heaven would be the ruin of her and her family: “Thou
and thy father's house shall be destroyed, when the rest of the families of the Jews shall
be preserved.” He that by sinful shifts will save his life, and cannot find in his heart to
trust God with it in the way of duty, shall lose it in the way of sin. 4. That divine
Providence had an eye to this in bringing her to be queen: “Who knows whether thou
hast come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” and therefore, (1.) “Thou art bound
in gratitude to do this service for God and his church, else thou dost not answer the end
of thy elevation.” (2.) “Thou needest not fear miscarrying in the enterprise; if God
designed thee for it, he will bear thee out and give thee success.” Now, [1.] It appeared,
by the event, that she did come to the kingdom that she might be an instrument of the
Jews' deliverance, so that Mordecai was right in the conjecture. Because the Lord loved
his people, therefore he made Esther queen. There is a wise counsel and design in all the
providences of God, which is unknown to us till it is accomplished, but it will prove, in
the issue, that they are all intended for, and centre in, the good of the church. [2.] The
probability of this was a good reason why she should now bestir herself, and do her
utmost for her people. We should every one of us consider for what end God has put us
in the place where we are, and study to answer that end; and, when any particular
opportunity of serving God and our generation offers itself, we must take care that we do
not let it slip; for we were entrusted with it that we might improve it. These things
Mordecai urges to Esther; and some of the Jewish writers, who are fruitful in invention,
add another thing which had happened to him (v. 7) which he desired she might be told,
“that going home, the night before, in great heaviness, upon the notice of Haman's plot,
he met three Jewish children coming from school, of whom he enquired what they had
learned that day; one of them told him his lesson was, Pro_3:25, Pro_3:26, Be not

58. afraid of sudden fear; the second told him his was, Isa_8:10, Take counsel together,
and it shall come to nought; the third told him his was Isa_46:4, I have made, and I will
bear, even I will carry and will deliver you. 'O the goodness of God,' says Mordecai,
'who out of the mouth of babes and sucklings ordains strength!”'
JAMISO , "Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther — His answer was
to this effect, that Esther need not indulge the vain hope she would, from her royal
connection, escape the general doom of her race - that he (Mordecai) confidently
believed God would interpose, and, if not through her, by some other deliverer, save His
people; but that the duty evidently devolved on her, as there was great reason to believe
that this was the design of Providence in her elevation to the dignity of queen, and
therefore that she should go with a courageous heart, not doubting of success.
BE SO , "Esther 4:13-14. Think not with thyself — Flatter not thyself with a vain
hope, that because thou art in the king’s house, and an eminent member of his
family, even the queen, that thou shalt be spared, or find any greater privilege in his
house than the Jews do abroad. Thou art a Jew, and if the rest be cut off thou wilt
not escape. For if thou holdest thy peace at this time — If, through fear, thou decline
the service; then shall deliverance arise to the Jews from another place — From
another hand, and by other means, which God can, and I am fully persuaded will,
raise up. This was the language of strong faith, against hope believing in hope; but
thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed — By the righteous judgment of God,
punishing thy cowardice and self-seeking, and thy want of love to God, and to his
and thy own people; and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom
for such a time as this? — It is probable God hath raised thee to this honour for this
very season. We should every one of us consider for what end God has put us in the
place where we are. And when an opportunity offers of serving God and our
generation, we must take care not to let it slip.
COFFMA , "Verse 13
MORDECAI CHARGED ESTHER TO TAKE THE RISK TO SEE THE KI G
"Then Mordecai bade them return answer unto Esther, Think not with thyself that
thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all Jews. For if thou altogether
holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from
another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish: and who knoweth
whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Then Esther bade
them return answer unto Mordecai, Go gather together all the Jews that are in
Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I
also and my maidens will fast in like manner; and so will I go in unto the king,
which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his
way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him."
For sheer courage, for faithful acceptance of an assignment fraught with mortal
danger, for filial obedience to her beloved foster-father Mordecai, for her patriotic
zeal and determination to rescue her people from massacre, yes, and for evident
trust in God, and confidence in his blessing, Esther's action here equals or surpasses

59. anything ascribed in the literature of all nations to the the greatest heroes of the
human race. What a marvel was Esther!
"If thou holdest thy peace ... thou and thy father's house will perish" (Esther 4:14).
"Mordecai's argument here was brutal in its clarity. Death awaited Esther whether
or not she went in to the king. She had nothing to lose. If she failed, deliverance
would come from some other place; but maybe, who knows, maybe God had made
her queen just for the purpose of rescuing his people."[8]
Some scholars make a big thing out of there being no mention of God's name in the
Book of Esther; nevertheless a most vital and living faith in God is evident in every
line of it. Why all that fasting (and prayer that always accompanied it)? Why? It
was an appeal for God's help.
ote here that Mordecai expected deliverance from some other quarter, even if
Esther failed. Why? He believed in God's protection of the chosen people.
"Esther was here invited by Mordecai to see that there was a divinely ordered
pattern in her life, and that this was her moment of destiny."[9]
"Although Mordecai did not speak of God nor allude directly to his promises, he
still grounded his hopes for the preservation of God's People upon the word and
promises of God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures."[10]SIZE>
Yea, even more than his hopes, his utmost confidence in that preservation is
revealed. ote the words: "Relief and deliverance will arise from another place"
(Esther 4:14). This could be nothing other than faith and trust in God.
"Fast ye for me ... I and my maidens will fast" (Esther 4:16). "Here we have more
evidence of the religious element in Esther. Her fast could have had no object other
than to obtain God's favor and protection in what she was resolved to do."[11]
Speaking of Esther's fasting, Dummelow wrote that, "This was Esther's request for
united prayer on her behalf."[12]
"If 50perish, I perish." (Esther 4:26). Esther accepted her dreadfully dangerous
mission, "In a spirit of resignation."[13]
TRAPP, "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.
Ver. 13. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther] He would not take her
excuse, but seems to say unto her, as one once did to a philosopher (Aul. Gell.), that
in a great tempest at sea asked many trifling questions: Are we perishing, and doest
thou trifle? Hµεις απολλυµεθα, και συ παιζεις. So, dost thou cast off the care of
community, and provide for no more than thine own safety?
Think not with thyself, that thou shalt escape in the king’s house] Any more than
Serena, that Christian empress, wife to Dioclesian, did, or Elizabeth, queen of

60. Denmark, glad to flee for her life, because a Lutheran; or Queen Catharine Parr,
who hardly escaped the fire by the favour of her husband, Henry VIII. Sure it is,
that the fear of man bringeth a snare (as fearful birds and beasts fall into the
hunter’s toil), "but he that trusteth in the Lord" (as good Mordecai did, and as he
would have Esther to do), "shall be safe," Proverbs 29:25, or shall be set on high,
out of harm’s way; his place of defence shall be munitions of rocks, Isaiah 33:16.
Like as the coney, that weak but wise creature, Proverbs 30:24; Proverbs 30:26,
flees to the holes in the rocks, and doth easily avoid the dogs that pursue her; when
the hare, that trusteth to the swiftness of her legs, is at length overtaken, and torn in
pieces.
More than all the Jews] The law was general and irreversible. Darius sought to
deliver Daniel, and could not. And Haman’s (as once Medina’s here in 1588) sword
knew no difference, nor would make any in that general massacre; like as in that at
Paris, they poisoned the queen of avarre, murdered the most part of the peerless
nobility in France, their wives and children, with a great sort of the common people.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "The Story of Queen Esther
Esther 4:13-17
Some people are puzzled to discover how the book of Esther comes to be in the Old
Testament. It contains no religions teaching. The name of God is not once mentioned
in it from the first verse to the last. How comes it in the Bible. o teaching of
religion, no prophesying of Jesus, no foreshadowing of the evangelical truths of
redemption—true not in pious phrase, but what the book does paint for you is a
majestic picture of a human heart struggling against its own weakness, rising to a
grandeur that had in it the glory of Christ"s own self-sacrifice.
I. You remember the story. A dissolute Persian monarch in a drunken frolic
requires of his queen to do a deed that ran against all that was womanly within her,
and she refused. Mercilessly he deposes her from the throne, and he sets to to select
another queen. The fair maidens of the land are collected, and from among them he
chooses the beautiful young Jewess Esther , and makes her his queen.
II. Esther was a Jewess. She owed her birth and her breeding to that despised exiled
people. She had won her proud position on the emperor"s throne through the
planning and toiling and sacrifice of her Jewish guardian. And now her people"s
destiny hangs on the balance. A deadly conspiracy against them has brought it
about that on a given day rapidly approaching there is to be a universal merciless
massacre of these defenceless Jews. And through the mouth of her old revered
guardian the demand comes to her—the one human being that might have influence
with the cruel king to cancel the decree and save the lives of men, women, and
children—at the risk and peril of her own life in asking it, to go and intercede for
them. Esther began arguing within herself—was she bound to hazard her life for
these Jews? Why should she come down from the throne and take her stand among

61. them, exposed to cruel massacre and death? The fact of the matter was, the queen
was standing in a false position. She could not see the truth, she could not see the
right, where she stood.
III. Mordecai recognized the root of the queen"s cowardice, and swiftly and sternly
he sent back a reply that shattered those barriers of her selfishness, and lifted her
out of her little self-centred world and set her on the pinnacle whence the whole line
and way of duty shone out unmistakably. "Go back," said Hebrews , "and tell the
queen to be ashamed of her despicable selfishness. Go tell the queen that she does
not live in a will-less random world where she may pick and choose the best things
for herself. If she will not save God"s people, then God will find another deliverer
and she herself shall be dashed aside." What a new world we are in now! What a
new light floods everything! The queen felt it. All that was noble, all that was good
in her waked and seized the upper hand and crushed down her baseness and her
meanness and her selfishness. She saw how it was. Wrapped round with that sense
of human sympathy, nerved and braved by the thought of all these human lives
hanging on her heroism, the weak woman conquered and she could go and do the
deed of valour. Esther by that deed of heroism delivered God"s people from
destruction. In her measure she did the same thing that Christ did perfectly later.
Like Him she laid her own life down on the altar. That it was not sacrificed does not
diminish the value of the offering. By her deed in her own day and generation she
saved God"s people from imminent destruction, by that deed preserved in history,
she lifted up and made strong the hope and faith of generations after.
—W. G. Elmslie, The British Weekly Pulpit, vol. II. p345.
14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and
deliverance for the Jews will arise from another
place, but you and your father’s family will
perish. And who knows but that you have come to
your royal position for such a time as this?”
BAR ES, "From another place - i. e. “from some other quarter.” Mordecai
probably concluded from the prophetic Scriptures that God would NOT allow His people
to be destroyed before His purposes with respect to them were accomplished, and was

62. therefore satisfied that deliverance would arise from one quarter or another.
Thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed - i. e. “a divine vengeance will
overtake thee and thine, if thou neglectest thy plain duty.” Though the name of God is
not contained in the Book of Esther, there is in this verse a distinct, tacit allusion to
God’s promises, and to the direction of human events by Divine Providence.
CLARKE, "Then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise - He had a
confidence that deliverance would come by some means; and he thought that Esther
would be the most likely; and that, if she did not use the influence which her
providential station gave her, she would be highly culpable.
And who knoweth whether thou art come - As if he had said, “Is it likely that
Divine providence would have so distinguished thee, and raised thee from a state of
abject obscurity, merely for thy own sake? Must it not have been on some public
account! Did not he see what was coming? and has he not put thee in the place where
thou mayest counteract one of the most ruinous purposes ever formed?” Is there a
human being who has not some particular station by an especial providence, at some
particular time, in which he can be of some essential service to his neighbor, in averting
evil or procuring good, if he be but faithful to the grace and opportunity afforded by this
station? Who dares give a negative to these questions? We lose much, both in reference
to ourselves and others, by not adverting to our providental situation and circumstances.
While on this subject, I will give the reader two important sayings, from two eminent
men, both keen observers of human nature, and deeply attentive in all such cases to the
operations of Divine providence: -
“To every thing there is a season; and a time to every purpose under
heaven. Therefore withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when
it is in the power of thy hand to do it.”
Solomon.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows, and in miseries.
Shakespeare.
Has there not been a case, within time of memory, when evil was designed against a
whole people, through the Hamans who had poisoned the ears of well-intentioned men;
in which one poor man, in consequence of a situation into which he was brought by an
astonishing providence, used the influence which his situation gave him; and, by the
mercy of his God, turned the whole evil aside? By the association of ideas the following
passage will present itself to the reader’s memory, who may have any acquaintance with
the circumstance: -
“There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great
king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now
there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the
city; yet no man remembered that same poor man!”

63. “Then said, I, Ah, Lord God! They say of me, Doth He Not Speak
Parables?” Rem acu tetigi.
GILL, "For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time,.... And will not
speak to the king in favour of the Jews, because of the danger she would be exposed to in
doing it:
then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from
another place; Mordecai seemed confident of it, that by some means or another the
Jews would be delivered; if not through the intercession of Esther, yet from some other
quarter, or by some other hand:
but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed; for such neglect of the people
of God when in distress, want of pity to them, and not exerting herself as she might in
their behalf; so that seeing she and her family must perish, it was better to perish in a
good cause than in a bad one:
and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as
this? he intimates that he believed that the providence of God had raised her to that
dignity, that she might be an instrument of saving his people in the time of their distress;
and this he said to encourage her to make the experiment.
COKE, "Esther 4:14. And who knoweth, &c.— Who knoweth whether thou art not
raised to the royal dignity, that thou mightest be a succour in these times?
Houbigant.
REFLECTIO S.—As yet Esther seems to have had but an imperfect knowledge of
the cause of Mordecai's affliction; and as it was impossible, by the custom of Persia,
to have a personal conference with him, she sends Hatach, a trusty eunuch, to
inquire and report the particulars. Hereupon,
1. Mordecai relates the whole of the matter; transmits, by the eunuch, a copy of the
decree, and charges her by all means to use her utmost influence to get it reversed,
by undeceiving the king with regard to the misrepresentations of Haman. ote;
Could truth but find its way to the royal ear, much of the people's miseries would be
relieved.
2. Esther returns, by the same messenger, an answer to Mordecai's request. To
appear in the royal presence uncalled, was death by the Persian law, except the king
stretched out the golden sceptre; nor were the queens excepted from it: and, for
some time past, the king seems to have neglected her, which would make the essay
more dangerous; and therefore she rather wishes him to seek some other advocate,
than expose her to the imminent peril of death. ote; (1.) The King of kings is not

64. thus inaccessible; whosoever will, may come unto him boldly with every request,
and are sure never to be denied. (2.) God in his providence permits the most
discouraging circumstances, in order to exercise the faith and brighten the crown of
the redeemed.
3. Mordecai lessens not his importunity for the danger which Esther suggested to
him. He let her know, that if her kindred fell, she must not hope to escape; that he
fully believed God would stand by them, and she would lose the honour of being
their deliverer if she declined this service; nay, that God would visit upon her and
her father's house such a cowardly refusal; and, while the rest escaped, they would
be left to perish. He concludes with suggesting, that her advancement was ordered
for this great purpose, and that she was therefore bound to correspond with the
designs of God herein. ote; (1.) If we have faith to trust God, he will never fail us.
(2.) They who, through unbelieving fear, decline the path of duty, are justly given up
to the danger which they thus sinfully seek to shun. (3.) It is good to observe the
leadings of providence, and correspond with what appears to be the design of God
in placing us in such a station or circumstance.
4. Determined at last, Esther resolved at all hazards to make the essay: but first she
enjoined Mordecai, and all the Jews in Shushan, to spend three days in prayer and
fasting, while she did the same in the palace, to humble their souls for the sins which
provoked these threatened judgments, and to seek the favour and blessing of God
on her attempt, who alone could incline the king's heart to grant her suit. Putting
her life in her hand, she then resolved to go to the king: she could but perish. ote;
(1.) In all our distresses there is a throne of grace open, and a God who heareth
prayer. (2.) When we are truly humbled under our sins, we may hope that God will
deliver us from our afflictions. (3.) While we are desiring the prayers of others, let
us not forget to be importunate for ourselves. (4.) When we can trust God with all,
then all is safe.
ELLICOTT, "(14) Enlargement.—Literally, a breathing-space.
From another place.—Although he does not explain his meaning, and, indeed, seems
to be speaking with studied reserve, still we may suppose that Mordecai here refers
to Divine help, which he asserts will be vouchsafed in this extremity. It does not
necessarily follow that we are to see in this declaration a proof of the earnestness of
Mordecai’s faith; probably had his faith been like that of many of his countrymen
he would not have been in Persia at all, but with the struggling band in Judæa.
Thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed.—That is, by the hand of God, who
having raised thee to this pitch of glory and power will require it from thee, if thou
fail in that which it plainly devolves upon thee to do. It is clear there is a good deal
of force in these last words of Mordecai. Esther’s rise had been so marvellous that
one might well see in it the hand of God, and if so there was clearly a very special
object in view, which it must be her anxious care to work for. In the whole tone of
the conversation, however, there seems a lack of higher and more noble feelings, an
absence of any suggestion of turning for aid to God; and thus in return, when God

65. carries out His purpose, and grants deliverance, it seems done indirectly, without
the conferring of any special blessing on the human instruments.
TRAPP, "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?
Ver. 14. But if thou altogether boldest thy peace] And so make thyself guilty of a
sinful silence, nay, of the death of so many innocents; for not to do good when it is in
the power of a man’s hand is to do evil, and not to save is to destroy, as our Saviour
showeth, Mark 3:14. Qui non cum potest, servat; occidit. Passive wickedness is
deeply taxed in some of those seven Churches, Rev. ii., iii. In a storm at sea it is a
shame to sit still, or to be asleep, with Jonah, in the sides of the ship, when it is in
danger of drowning. Every man cannot sit at the stern; but then he may handle the
ropes, or manage the oars, &c. The self-seeker, the private spirited man, may he be
but warm in is own feathers, regards not the danger of the house; he is totus in se,
entirely in himself, like the snail, still within doors and at home; like the squirrel, he
ever digs his hole towards the sunrising; his care is to keep on the warm side of the
hedge, to sleep in a whole skin, to save one, whatever become of the many. From
doing thus, Mordecai deterreth Esther by a heap of holy arguments; discovering a
heroical faith and a well-knit resolution.
At this time] There is indeed a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, Ecclesiastes
3:7. But if ever a man will speak, let him do it when the enemies are ready to devour
the Church: as Croesus’s dumb son burst out into, Kill not King Croesus. "For
Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest," &c.,
Isaiah 62:1. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I
do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth," &c., Psalms
137:5-6. That noble Terentius (general to Valens the emperor) being bidden to ask
what he would, asked nothing, but that the Church might be freed from Arians; and
when the emperor, upon a defeat by the Goths, upbraided him with cowardice and
sloth as the causes of the overthrow, he boldly replied, Yourself have lost the day, by
your warring against God, and persecuting his people ( iceph.).
Then shall their enlargement] Heb. Respiration, a day of refreshing should come
from the presence of the Lord. Confer Job 9:18. At present they could hardly
breathe, for bitterness of spirit.
And deliverance arise] Heb. stand up, as on its basis or bottom, so as none shall be
able to withstand. This, Mordecai speaketh, not by a spirit of prophecy, but by the
force of his faith, grounded upon the promises of God’s defending his Church,
hearing the cries of his afflicted, arising to their relief and succour, &c. Mira
profecto ac omnibus linguis, saeculis, locisque commendabilis fides, saith one. A

66. notable faith indeed, and worthy of highest commendation. Through the perspective
of the promises (those pabulum fidei, food of faith) a believer may see deliverance at
a great distance ( Aσπασαµενοι); see it and embrace it, as those did, Hebrews 11:13.
What though Sense saith, it will not be; Reason, it cannot be; yet Faith gets above,
and says, it shall be, I spy land.
Italiam, Italiam laeto clamore salutat (Virg.).
But thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed] Here he thundereth and
threateneth her, if to save herself she shall desert the Church. Mordecai’s message,
like David’s ditty, is composed of discords. Sour and sweet make the best sauce;
promises and menaces mixed will soonest work, Psalms 101:1. God told Abraham,
that for the love he bare him, he would bless those that blessed him, and curse such
as cursed him, Genesis 12:3. Their sin should find them out, and they should rue it
in their posterity. As one fire, so one fear, should drive out another.
And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom] There is often a wheel
within a wheel, Ezekiel 1:16. God may have an end and an aim in businesses that we
wot not of nor can see into, till event hath explained it. Let us lay forth ourselves for
him, and labour to be public spirited, standing on tiptoes, {Aποκαραδοκια,
Philippians 1:20} as St Paul did, to see which way we may most glorify God, and
gratify our brethren.
WHEDO , "14. Enlargement — ‫,רוח‬ breathing room; freedom from restraint.
Compare the kindred word rendered respite in Exodus 8:15 .
Deliverance arise… another place — ote the faith of Mordecai. He is confident his
nation cannot perish. Help will come from some quarter.
Who knoweth? — Mordecai discerns a divine providence in Esther’s attaining to
the royal dignity. God had elevated her to a position in which she might be the
principal agent in effecting the salvation of her people, and hence she is warned that
if she fails in the duty of that hour, Divine vengeance will most surely fall on her and
all her father’s house.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Self-sacrifice
Esther 4:14
In our daily lessons yesterday we began the reading of the book of Esther , which is
so full of instruction upon the law of self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice is the first law of
the kingdom of God. Self-sacrifice is the one condition of life, of progress, and of
fruitful service. It is by drinking the Saviour"s cup of suffering, and shaving His
baptism of blood, that men qualify for high honours above. The nearer the Cross
now, the nearer the Throne hereafter. That Esther , the young bride and queen,
should shrink from risking her life was most natural, and many a young Christian

67. shrinks from following Christ because of the cross involved. But self-sacrifice for
Christ is the only way to usefulness and joy. But Mordecai would not accept
Esther"s excuse. He knew that emergencies call for sacrifices, and that often the
bold policy is the only safe one. So he sent back a remarkable reply, containing a
warning, an encouragement, and an appeal.
I. The Warning was Candid and Brusque.—"Think not that thou shalt escape in the
king"s house more than all the Jews." Esther might well have thought that the
queen-consort would escape the general slaughter. Her nationality was not publicly
known. Surely if she held her peace, whoever else might suffer she would escape.
But Mordecai knew better. "If thou altogether hold thy peace at this time... thou
and thy father"s house shall be destroyed." Yes, nothing would be gained by letting
things slide. The policy of silence would not answer. The bold line was the only safe
one. It always is so. Be bold for Christ now, and your testimony will be a blessing to
many; but if you hold your peace, Satan will some day drive you into a corner,
where you must either publicly deny your Lord or be forced into a confession which
will have very little value.
II. With the Warning came Encouragement.—"Enlargement and deliverance shall
arise to the Jews from another place," if thou hold thy peace. Mordecai knew that
God was fully equal to this emergency. God had never failed His people. He knew
that deliverance should arise from some quarter. His only fear was lest Esther
should lose this golden opportunity of becoming the saviour of her race. We ought
all to share Mordecai"s faith. However dark the outlook may sometimes seem,
however great the social and political difficulties of our day, there is no doubt as to
the final issue. The growing despair of nations is only the surer evidence of the
approaching advent of Christ. What part shall we take in preparing the way for the
Prince of Peace?
III. So the Message closed with an Appeal.—"Who knoweth whether thou art come
to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther , the captive Jewess, had been raised
to the throne of Persia. You, the slave of sin and death, God has redeemed by
precious blood. Is it not for such a time as this, that just when the witness of men
who know God is most needed your voice may be raised for Christ? That when
youth and vigour and enthusiasm are wanted to free England from increasing
irreligion and sin, and to carry the banner of the Cross amongst the millions of
heathen in distant lands your life, bought at such a price, should be wholly yielded
up to God? It is in time of war that soldiers come to the front. It is in days of
darkness and corruption that God"s people must prove themselves the light of men,
the salt of the earth.
IV. The Decision was Made.—The three days" fast for herself and her maidens and
all the Jews was arranged. And at the close the young queen and bride took her life
in her hand and went in to see the king. She risked her all, and God made her the
saviour of the whole nation.
Public Spirit

68. Esther 4:14
I. God"s cause is independent of our assistance. Mordecai believed that God
watched over Israel night and day; many a time had He delivered her, when
everything appeared desperate and the help of man had utterly failed; and the
record of God"s faithfulness in the past gave the assurance that in some way of His
own He would prevent the extinction of His people. This was a noble attitude of
mind; and it is one which we should seek to cultivate in reference to the cause of
Christ. If religion is real at all, then it is the greatest and most permanent of all
realities. If Christ"s own words are true, then it is no limited or hesitating loyalty we
owe Him. One Prayer of Manasseh , with truth and the promise of God at his back,
is stronger than an opposing world.
II. We are not independent of God"s cause. One reason there was which might have
tempted Esther to do nothing; she was not known to be a Jewess. But Mordecai
interposed between her and all such refuges of his by assuring her that, if the Jews
were massacred, she and her father"s house would perish with the rest. We cannot
hold back from Christ"s cause with impunity. It can do without us, but we cannot
do without it. If Jesus Christ is the central figure in history, and if the movement
which He set agoing is the central current of history, then to be dissociated from His
aims is to be a cipher, or perhaps even a minor quantity, in the aim of good.
III. Christ"s cause offers the noblest employment for our gifts. Powerful as were the
opening portions of Mordecai"s appeal, it seems to me it must have been the closing
sentence which decided Esther. It is a transfiguring moment when the thought first
penetrates a man that perhaps this is not the purpose for which he has received his
gifts at all—when the image of humanity rises up before him, in its helplessness and
misery, appealing to him, as the weak appeal to the strong; when his country rises
before him as an august and lovable mother and demands the services of her child;
when the image of Christ rises before him, and, pointing to His cause struggling
with the forces of evil yet leading towards a glorious and not uncertain goal, asks
him to lend it his strength—when a man ceases to be the most important object in
the world to himself, and sees, outside, an object which makes him forget himself
and irresistibly draws him on. This call saved Esther. The same call comes now to
you. We must begin with ourselves. Are we to have aught to give the world?
—J. Walker, The Four Men, p128.
PULPIT, "Then shall there enlargemt, or respiration (marg. literally, "breath"),
and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. Mordecai is confident that
God will not allow the destruction of his people. Without naming his name, he
implies a trust in his gracious promises, and a conviction that Haman's purpose will
be frustrated; how, he knows not, but certainly in some way or other. If deliverance
does not come through Esther, then it will arise from some other quarter. But thou
and thy father's house shall be destroyed. A denunciation of Divine vengeance.
Though the nation will be saved, it will not benefit you. On you will fall a just

69. judgment—having endeavoured to save your life, you will lose it—and your
"father's house will be involved in your ruin. We may gather from this that Esther
was not Abihail's only child. Who knoweth, etc. Consider this also. Perhaps (who
knows?) God has raised you up to your royal dignity for this very purpose, and
none other, that you should be in a position to save your nation in this crisis.
GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "Opportunity
If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall relief and deliverance arise to
the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father’s house shall perish: and who
knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?—Est_4:14.
1. The story is too familiar to need much retailing. Haman, the favourite minister of
Ahasuerus, entertained a malignant hatred against the Jews, because one of their
number, Mordecai, refused to do him reverence as he passed him daily at the gate of the
palace. He promised that if the Jews were handed over to him for destruction, ten talents
should be paid into the treasury. The king agreed to his favourite’s demand, and orders
were sent out to the governors who were over provinces, and to the princes of every
people, “to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little
children and women.”
It is always interesting, when possible, to set sacred history by the side of profane, and
identify, if we can, the great actors in both. Considerable discussion has taken place with
regard to the king who is here called Ahasuerus, as the chief point in enabling us to fix
the probable date of the marvellous events which are narrated. There was a succession of
powerful monarchs in Persia at the time about which these events occurred; and of
these, two are mentioned by critical scholars as being, the one or the other of them,
undoubtedly the ruler mentioned here. Ezra speaks of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and
some incline to the opinion that it is the same man who appears in the Book of Esther
under the name Ahasuerus. Seeing, however, that this king must have been unnaturally
inconsistent when the edict against the Jews was sent out, since he had just before
granted them large favours, and remembering that several historians speak of him as
having had a Jewish mother, it seems far more probable to identify Ahasuerus with the
preceding king, Xerxes, the great invader of Greece, the son of Darius, whom the
Athenians so nobly met and conquered at Marathon.
2. Esther was queen. Vashti, who would not degrade herself by obeying the king’s
drunken commands, had been deposed. Esther was queen, and Esther was a Jewess. Her
life, therefore, was likely to be sacrificed with the rest. Her kinsman, Mordecai, who
seems to have preserved his faith in God through all the enervating influences of this
Persian court, saw that the only hope of escape was in Esther.
3. So complete was the retirement of the women in the recesses of the harem, that the
queen knew nothing of the calamity which was impending over her people. Mordecai for
nine years had abstained from all communication with her lest her position might be
compromised, and she should be identified, to her detriment, with her despised people.
Now, however, it was peremptory that he should break through the reserve, and he
therefore sent a message to the queen informing her of the plot that was on foot, and
asking her to go in to the king to make supplication and request before him for her
people.
4. Our text contains the argument which Mordecai used to induce Esther to undertake

70. the hazardous duty. It is an argument which has a very wide application. Let us consider
it under four statements—
I. We may fail in our duty by simply being silent.
II. If we fail, God gets His work done in some other way.
III. But we suffer for it.
IV. Every opportunity is a call.
I
We may fail in our Duty by simply being Silent
“If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time.”
1. Esther was very likely tempted to be silent at a time when to speak was necessary to
save her countrymen from destruction. We often bite our tongues because we have
sinned in speech, but how often have we sinned by silence. For there is a silence that is
sinful: “If he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.”
It may be that a great cause is in danger. Its advocates and its opponents are pretty
evenly balanced. But there is one strong man, who, if he would speak, could turn the
fortunes of the day; for men believe in his sincerity and disinterestedness, as well as in
his knowledge and insight; and the humbler supporters of the cause are waiting, in hope,
to hear what he will say. His gifts, his influence, his experience, not only qualify but
entitle him to speak a great word. But he sits in silence, or makes a speech of unworthy
compromise. He lets the golden opportunity pass; and it may be that a great injustice is
done, or the cause of truth and progress is retarded for years, for want of the word which
he could well have spoken.
Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a riband to stick in his coat—
Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us,
Lost all the others she lets us devote;
They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver,
So much was theirs who so little allowed:
How all our copper had gone for his service!
Rags—were they purple, his heart had been proud!
We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,
Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,
Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,
Made him our pattern to live and to die!
Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us,
Burns, Shelley, were with us,—they watch from their graves!
He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,
He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!

71. We shall march prospering,—not thro’ his presence;
Songs may inspirit us,—not from his lyre;
Deeds will be done,—while he boasts his quiescence,
Still bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire;
Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more,
One task more declined, one more footpath untrod,
One more triumph for devils and sorrow for angels,
One wrong more to man, one more insult to God!
Life’s night begins: let him never come back to us!
There would be doubt, hesitation and pain,
Forced praise on our part—the glimmer of twilight,
Never glad confident morning again!
Best fight on well, for we taught him,—strike gallantly,
Menace our heart ere we master his own;
Then let him receive the new knowledge and wait us,
Pardoned in Heaven, the first by the throne!1 [Note: Browning, The Lost Leader.]
2. There are many reasons for silence. Sometimes it is due to real and all but
unconquerable diffidence, sometimes to cynicism, but sometimes also assuredly to
cowardice. The man may suppose that plain, uncompromising speech might alienate his
friends, imperil his influence, or injure his reputation. In any case, the day on which a
strong and influential man fails, for such a reason, to lift up his voice for the truth is one
of the tragic days of his life. In the Providence of God, that was the crisis for which he
had come to his kingdom, and he should have bravely met it.
(1) The silence to which Esther was tempted was the silence of expediency. She knew
how greatly the Jews needed relief and deliverance, but she feared lest if she spoke in
their behalf her own position might be compromised. It is astonishing how many
Christians can preserve a prudential silence when an evil demands denunciation. They
are anxious for their own peace. They are slaves of expediency. We need to remember
George Meredith’s grand words, “Expediency is man’s wisdom, doing right is God’s.”
The editorial declaration in a popular New York daily paper, that a newspaper’s chief
concern should be with whatever will give it a circulation, was merely the brazen
statement of what has become with many the real philosophy of life. It is the substitution
of expediency for honesty.1 [Note: J. I. Vance, Tendency, 125.]
(2) Esther was tempted to the silence of selfishness. True, her people were imperilled,
but she was happy and free! She had newly come to the throne. The glamour of royalty
was upon her. Shall she run the risk of losing her delights? By silence she may have
permanent pleasure. This type of silence is very common, and we are often tempted to it.
We dread to speak lest our ease and enjoyment should suffer thereby. It is the acute
remark of one of our present-day writers, that “times of great trouble often reveal the
meanness of human nature.” Nothing is meaner than to be silent in presence of wrong
for the sake of selfish comfort. Bishop Thorold spoke of people being “buried in self-

72. love.” What a dreadful tomb!
No one enters into the life of Christ’s discipleship who does not seek, not the
renunciation only, but the very death of all his old low self and self-life. For life is far
more than just ease and gentleness, far more than confession and the endurance of the
tests that God sends us. Life is a daily dying and rising—as the old lines run:—
As once toward heaven my face was set,
I came unto a place where two ways met.
One led to Paradise and one away;
And fearful of myself lest I should stray,
I paused that I might know
Which was the way wherein I ought to go.
The first was one my weary eyes to please,
Winding along thro’ pleasant fields of ease,
Beneath the shadow of fair branching trees.
“This path of calm and solitude
Surely must lead to heaven,” I cried,
In joyous mood.
“Yon rugged one, so rough for weary feet,
The footpath of the world’s too busy street,
Can never be the narrow way of life.”
But at that moment I thereon espied
A footprint bearing trace of having bled,
And knew it for the Christ’s, so bowed my head,
And followed where He led.
(3) Esther was tempted to the silence of slothfulness. To speak for the relief and
deliverance of the Jews would involve strenuous endeavour. She feared to trample on
her ease. Are we not all so tempted? To serve the needy age is to forswear ease. Every
great helper of the world has to cry, “Virtue is gone out of me.” And we shrink from such
self-depletion.
Very wonderful is the intimate connection, the subtle interaction, between the forces of
our physical and our moral nature. It is one of the chief mysteries of our mysterious
being. But it is not a mystery merely; it is a fact of infinite practical significance which
cannot be ignored without grave peril. The intelligent recognition of it would save many
good people from much sorrow, as it would save others from grievous sin.
The moral degradation which comes from physical indolence is difficult to define. Most
of us may thank God that the very circumstances of our life keep us safe from this sin.
Few men can help working; most men have to work hard. But sluggishness, an
indisposition to make any exertion unless compelled to make it, is sometimes to be met
with even in this restless and active age, and in every social condition.1 [Note: R. W. Dale.]
During the formation of one of the lines of railway through the Highlands, a man came

73. to the contractor and asked for a job at the works, when the following conversation took
place:—
“Well, Donald, you’ve come for work, have you? and what can you do?”
“Deed, I can do onything.”
“Well, there’s some spade and barrow work going on; you can begin on that.”
“Ach, but I wadna just like to be workin’ wi a spade and a wheelbarrow.”
“O, would you not? Then yonder’s some rock that needs to be broken away. Can you
wield a pick?”
“I wass never usin’ a pick, whatefer.”
“Well, my man, I don‘t know anything I can give you to do.”
So Donald went away crestfallen. But being of an observing turn of mind, he walked
along the rails, noting the work of each gang of labourers, until he came to a signal-box,
wherein he saw a man seated, who came out now and then, waved a flag, and then
resumed his seat. This appeared to Donald to be an occupation entirely after his own
heart. He made enquiry of the man, ascertained his hours and his rate of pay, and
returned to the contractor, who, when he saw him, good-naturedly asked:
“What, back again, Donald? Have you found out what you can do?”
“Deed, I have, sir. I would just like to get auchteen shullins a week, and to do that,”
holding out his arm and gently waving the stick he had in his hand.2 [Note: Sir A. Geikie, Scottish
Reminiscences, 24.]
II
If We fail God gets His Work done in some other Way
“Then shall relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.”
1. Mordecai had evidently drunk deeply of the spirit of the history of Israel. Israel was
the people of God; the possessor of the promises of God, which had not reached their
fulfilment; and sooner could the pillars of the heavens fall than these be broken.
Mordecai believed that God watched over Israel night and day; many a time had He
delivered her, when everything appeared desperate and the help of man had utterly
failed; and the record of God’s faithfulness in the past gave the assurance that in some
way of His own He would prevent the extinction of His people.
2. There is wonderful encouragement in Mordecai’s message. Somehow God’s great
delivering work shall be done! We cannot see how, but it shall yet be. All things are
possible to omnipotence. Relief and deliverance shall arise from another place.
Incapacitated workers may be comforted by this assurance. The work shall not finally
suffer through a particular worker’s disablement.
3. The passage admits of easy application to the Church. One portion of the Church may
fail to rise to the height of its duty and, in spite of all the splendid hopes which it
enshrines, it may perish. But not so the whole Church, or even the particular purpose
which that portion was meant to have fulfilled. Relief and deliverance shall arise to the
Church from another place. Men of another sort can be raised up to do the work which
we neglected to do.
4. Relief and deliverance shall arise from another place. So it is certain that God from
eternity has willed that all flesh should see His salvation. He loves the heathen better

74. than we do. Christ has died not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. God
has made of one blood all nations of men. The race is one in its need. The race is one in
its goal. The Gospel is fit for all men. The Gospel is preached to all men. The Gospel shall
yet be received by a world, and from every corner of a believing earth will rise one roll of
praise to one Father, and the race shall be one in its hopes, one in its Lord, one in faith,
one in baptism, one in one God and Father of us all. That grand unity shall certainly
come. That true unity and fraternity shall be realized. The blissful wave of the knowledge
of the Lord shall cover and hide and flow rejoicingly over all national distinctions. “In
that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of
the earth.” This is as certain as the efficacy of a Saviour’s blood can make it, as certain as
the universal adaptation and design of a preached Gospel can make it, as certain as the
oneness of human nature can make it, as certain as the power of a Comforter who shall
convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment can make it, as certain as
the misery of man can make it, as certain as the promises of God who cannot lie can
make it, as certain as His faithfulness who hangs the rainbow in the heavens and enters
into an everlasting covenant with all the earth can make it.
This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:—
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince’s banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle’s edge,
And thought, “Had I a sword of keener steel—
That blue blade that the king’s son bears,—but this
Blunt thing!”—he snapt and flung it from his hand,
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king’s son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.
III
But We shall suffer for It
“Thou and thy father’s house shall perish.”
1. Mordecai’s precise reference is not absolutely certain: probably he foretells that if the
Jews are massacred Esther’s Jewish origin will be discovered, and she and her father’s
house will share the extermination; or it may be that he merely predicts some indefinite
though certain Nemesis.

75. 2. Mordecai’s principle is for ever true: retribution must ensue upon negligence. We
cannot save our lives without at length losing them: they are “destroyed” who leave their
duty undone. We need neither define nor describe the destruction. Sometimes it occurs
in this life; at times it takes the form of the overthrow of our temporal possessions;
oftener far it manifests itself in open deterioration of character. But God has a hell of fire
for the negligent even on this side the veil.
I know not what of evil may yet come of the negligence of the Christian Church towards
the population with which it is surrounded. Those wretched beings who starve in over-
crowded rooms will not die unavenged, if nothing more comes of it than the sin which is
begotten of want. If you live in a house well-ventilated and well-drained, and you have
near you hovels foul, filthy, dilapidated, over-crowded, when the fever breeds there it
will not respect your garden wall; it will come up into your windows, smite down your
children, or lay you yourself in the grave. As such mischief to health cannot be confined
to the locality in which it was born, so is it with spiritual and moral disease; it must and
will spread on all sides. This may be a selfish argument; but as we are battling with
selfishness, we may fitly take Goliath’s sword with which to cut off his head. You
Christian people suffer if the Church suffers; you suffer even if the world suffers. If you
are not creating a holy warmth, the chill of sin is freezing you. Unconsciously the death
which is all around will creep over you who are idle in the Church, and it will soon
paralyse all your energies unless in the name of God you rouse yourself to give battle to
it. You must unite with the Lord and His people in winning the victory over sin, or sin
will win the victory over you.
3. We cannot hold back from Christ’s cause with impunity. It can do without us, but we cannot do without it. “Whosoever will save his
life,” said our Lord, “shall lose it.” If religion is a reality, to live without it is to suppress and ultimately to destroy the most sacred
portion of our own being. It is a kind of suicide, or at least a mutilation. If it is possible for man to enjoy in this life intimacy and
fellowship with God, then to live without God is to renounce the profoundest and most influential experience which life contains. If
Jesus Christ is the central figure in history, and if the movement which He set agoing is the central current of history, then to be
dissociated from His aims is to be a cipher, or perhaps even a minus quantity, in the sum of good. It may, indeed, in the meantime
facilitate our own pleasure, and it may clear the way for the pursuit of our personal ambitions; but when we look back on our career
from the end of life, will it satisfy us to remember the number of pleasant sensations we have had, if we have to confess to ourselves
that we are dying without having contributed anything to the real progress of mankind and without ever having seen the real glory of
the world?
Not once or twice in our rough island-story,
The path of duty was the way to glory:
He that walks it, only thirsting
For the right, and learns to deaden
Love of self, before his journey closes,
He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting
Into glossy purples, which outredden
All voluptuous garden roses.
Not once or twice in our fair island-story,
The path of duty was the way to glory:
He, that ever following her commands,
On with toil of heart and knees and hands,
Thro’ the long gorge to the far light has won

76. His path upward, and prevail’d,
Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled
Are close upon the shining table-lands
To which our God Himself is moon and sun.1 [Note: Tennyson, The Duke of Wellington.]
IV
Every Opportunity is a Special Call
“Who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
1. Mordecai sees the exigency of the time. He sees something more. He believes in an
over-ruling Providence. He has watched the gradual grouping of events, and knows they
have not come by chance. A little while ago it might have struck him as strange that a
Jewess should sit upon the Persian throne; but now he understands it. One higher than
Ahasuerus circled with the coronet Esther’s brow; One who does nothing without a
meaning and an end. The man, in his high-souled faith, reads God’s reason, and
understands why Esther has been exalted. “She has come to the kingdom for such a time
as this.” The life of thousands is placed in her hands. Now she has an opportunity of
accomplishing her Divine destiny, and shall she not be equal to the occasion?
These words instantly lit the whole career of Esther with a new and solemn meaning. It
was, then, not for nothing that she was queen, and it was not an accident that had set her
upon the throne. This was the crisis to which, throughout the brilliant, happy years, she
had all unconsciously been borne; and now she was to prove to the world whether she
was a queen in name only or also in deed and truth. The honour of queen she had
enjoyed; the higher honour of the heroine she had yet to achieve. The appeal of Mordecai
flashed a light upon her destiny. In a moment she saw the drift of the past, the meaning
of the present, the vastness of the opportunity; and she swiftly made up her mind. “I will
go,” she said. “Let all the Jews fast for me; and, though it is against the law, I will appear
before the king; and if I perish, I perish.”1 [Note: J. E. M‘Fadyen.]
2. God’s providential purpose; man’s present opportunity: that is how we are to read the
lesson of this marvellous history. A purpose clearly written on the face of events, and to
be readily deciphered from their grouping; but still so written that men must open their
eyes if they would see it, and open their heart if they would understand it. In former
days, when the people were hurrying from their bondage, when they stood in danger,
with a sea in front, and an army behind, a Voice spoke bidding Moses stretch his rod
over the sea, that a way might be made for the ransomed to pass over. Now we have no
voice, but circumstances gather about us; the rod is thrust into our hand, and we miss
our deliverance if we do not see that we must wave the rod. In olden time Moses was
bidden strike the rock, and water gushed forth. Now we see the thirsting multitudes, and
again the rod is put in our grasp. There comes no water if we do not see that we must
strike. We are not in intellectual and religious infancy. We ought to be able to discover
without any warning voice what God’s purpose is, and what our opportunity is worth.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;

77. And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
There is nothing that stands still in time, so that no duty at all admits of delay; each is
strictly the duty of the moment. The act of social kindness, which is a gracious attention
this week, becomes an overdue debt the next, and is presented with sad apology instead
of being received with glad surprise. The wounded tenderness to which we spoke not the
timely and soothing word, passes into permanent soreness instead of healing with
grateful love. All round our human existence, indeed, does this same thing appear. Each
present conviction, each secret suggestion of duty, constitutes a distinct and separate
call of God, which can never be slighted without the certainty of its total departure or its
fainter return. Our true opportunities come but once; they are sufficient but not
redundant; we have time enough for the longest duty, but not for the shortest sin.1 [Note:
James Martineau.]
Farewell, fair day and fading light!
The clay-born here, with westward sight,
Marks the huge sun now downward soar.
Farewell. We twain shall meet no more.
Farewell. I watch with bursting sigh
My late contemned occasion die.
I linger useless in my tent:
Farewell, fair day, so foully spent!
Farewell, fair day. If any God
At all consider this poor clod,
He who the fair occasion sent
Prepared and placed the impediment.
Let him diviner vengeance take—
Give me to sleep, give me to wake
Girded and shod, and bid me play
The hero in the coming day!2 [Note: R. L. Stevenson, Songs of Travel.]
(1) Life is an opportunity.—It is coming to our kingdom. To live physically, intellectually,
spiritually, to exist, is our call. Do we understand the wonderful possibilities of our life?
Often it drops down into a dull routine, monotonous, mechanical. We seem to be within
the grasp of a savage power, which puts us here and there, forcing us through daily
exercises of one sort and another in a way over which we seem to have no control. But it
is possible to have this seeming iron destiny placed under the control of a still higher
Power.
Our days have fallen on a time different from all that has gone before, unique in this
particular, if in nothing else—the power of public opinion. In former days, only one man
here and there seemed to have a kingdom to enter upon, a few men swayed the nations, a

78. few men seemed to be inspired to deeds which raised them into leaders of the people.
But now the rulers in name are the ruled in fact. The government is governed, and the
people, as freedom has broadened slowly down from precedent to precedent, control
everything. It is a great thing to live now. Are we equal to the occasion? We may know
much. Literature pours its wealth out before us. Science teaches us how to look away
into space, and follow the stars in their girdling orbits; to look down into little things,
and see how great a world of being exists in points and specks which our eye can scarcely
discern. It tells us how the earth is made, and reads off to us the story of its framing. Are
we equal to our time?
We need it every hour—
A purpose high,
To give us strength and power
To do or die.
We need it every hour—
A firm, brave will,
That, though hate’s clouds may lower,
Shall conquer still.
We need it every hour—
A calm strong mind,
Enriched by reason’s dower,
Nor warped nor blind.
We need it every hour—
A patient love,
Which shall all souls endower
From heights above.
We need it every hour—
A conscience clear,
That shall be as a tower
Of strength and cheer.
We need it every hour—
A true pure life,
Which failure cannot sour
Or turn to strife.1 [Note: Sara A. Underwood.]
(2) Christian life is an opportunity.—As Christians we have come to a kingdom. Shall we
prove ourselves equal to the times on which our lot has fallen? Christianity, ever since its
birth, has presented two aspects—the offensive and the defensive, self-assertion and
aggression. At the building of the wall round Jerusalem men worked with the sword in

79. one hand and the trowel in the other, watchful to resist attack, watchful that the work
should make progress. So has the new spiritual Jerusalem been built, from the time of
the early Fathers of the Church down to the latest contributors to Christian apology,
from the time of St. Paul the Apostle down to the latest heroes of missionary enterprise.
No time is without its own pathos and its call for patriotic and self-sacrificing work.
Certainly ours is not. The wonderful progress of science in the last two generations has
supplied means of helping the world such as have never existed before. The problem of
the degraded and disinherited is pressing on the attention of intelligent minds with an
urgency which cannot be disregarded. It is intolerable to think that a noble population
like ours should forever lie sodden and stupefied, as it now does, beneath a curse like
drunkenness; and events are rapidly maturing for a great change. The heathen world is
opening everywhere to the influences of the Gospel. And perhaps the most significant of
all the signs of the times is the conviction, which is spreading in many different sections
of the community, that the average of Christian living is miserably below the standard of
the New Testament, and that a far broader, manlier, more courageous and open-eyed
style of Christianity is both possible and necessary.
NISBET, "A TRUE HEROINE
‘Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Then
Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, Go, gather together all the Jews that are
present in Shushan, and fast ye for me: … 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.’
Esther 4:14-16
It was a time of great national peril, of danger averted by the forethought of Mordecai
and the courage of Esther, who must always hold a high place among the heroines of
history. For the book of Esther is undoubtedly of historical value, though it is no less
certainly coloured by the picturesque imagination of its author. It was a crisis in the
history of the Jews, and so in the history of humanity. Esther was appealed to for
deliverance at her own great risk, and she was not deaf to the appeal. Had she refused to
play her part in the affair, it is hard to say what would have been the consequence; but
she was put to the test, and proved loyal to her God and her nation. And so she stands
out before us as an ideal which we shall do well to imitate.
At first, and not unnaturally, she hesitated to provoke the tyrant’s wrath by disregard of
a domestic order; but, moved at last by her uncle’s appeal to her sense of responsibility,
she declared her belief in the providential care of the God of her fathers, and, with a
noble scorn of consequence, her willingness to act.
I. Now, I would have you notice first—as the root of all conscientious action in any crisis
of individual life—Esther’s proud scorn of consequence in the fulfilment of her duty.—
We may compare it with that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego a century before in
Babylonia—on the edge of the burning fiery furnace—‘Our God … will deliver us out of
thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy
gods.’ The story of this past heroism may well have nerved the young Queen to her noble
self-renunciation—‘if I perish, I perish.’

80. It is a conflict which is constantly presenting itself in Christian warfare. If it should
please God that she, Esther the queen, should perish because she asserted the claims of
down-trodden humanity, then it were better so—better to cast in her lot with
righteousness, to take the suffering that God willed, and bear it, rather than to enjoy life
and wealth, equipages, palaces, attendants, as the wages of sin. On the one side right, on
the other enjoyment. Right shadowed with pain, enjoyment coloured by sin. Esther’s
answer was free and decisive—and yet she had counted the cost. We glory in it to-day—‘if
I perish, I perish’—and would fain act as she acted.
II. Notice further Esther’s trust in God.—She would hold herself still in Him. This second
point of teaching comes home to us to-day as fresh as when the words were spoken. A
trust in God can exorcise all evil tendency—which goeth not out save by prayer and
fasting. ‘Fast ye for me … I also and my maidens will fast likewise.’ ‘Though He deny me,
yet will I trust in Him.’ There is the same scorn of consequences which rests proudly on
trustfulness in God, when some one says, ‘Whatever happens, I will do what my father
and my mother taught me to be right. I will obey my conscience, my Bible, my Saviour. If
truth is death, then let me die.’ To do this, and to be thus, is to have constant and
watchful regard for opportunity.
III. ‘Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?’ These
were wise words of Mordecai.—They are words which, in things both great and small, we
do well to account as teaching an important lesson for ourselves. This was Esther’s
opportunity. If she had failed to grasp it, the massacre would have taken place, and
history would not have told of her magnificent heroism. The world of the twentieth
century would have been the poorer for the failure of a Jewish maiden. For may we not
account her position in the monarch’s harem as raising her far above the commonplace?
When God claims from you some special stress of service—some act of self-surrender in
conduct or in judgment—can you honestly picture yourselves in the character which my
text suggests, and in answer to the appeal of God’s Spirit—‘Who knoweth whether thou
art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?’—can you catch anything of the
controlled enthusiasm of Esther? ‘Fast ye for me … I also … will fast likewise; and so will
I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law.’ In your case it may be the law of
rank, or party, or learning, or fashion. But these are of no account when duty calls.
Catch, I repeat, her spirit: ‘if I perish, I perish.’
—Canon R. D. Swallow.
Illustration
‘It was by the loving providence of God that the Jews were saved, and it is by that same
wise, over-ruling care that our lives are shaped day by day. In these materialistic times
we are drifting away from the great truth that God guides and moulds human life. Every
believing soul is in the hands of a strong and loving Father, Who is fashioning it wisely
and well. Esther’s God is our God. He who helped His people in trouble twenty-five
hundred years ago is just as ready to help us to-day. Dependence upon God is the way to
true success.’

81. 15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
GILL, "Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer. Which follows,
and was sent by the messengers she sent the above to him.
HE RY 15-16, "Esther hereupon resolved, whatever it might cost her, to apply to the
king, but not till she and her friends had first applied to God. Let them first by fasting
and prayer obtain God's favour, and then she should hope to find favour with the king,
Est_4:15, Est_4:16. She speaks here,
1. With the piety and devotion that became an Israelite. She had here eye up unto God,
in whose hands the hearts of kings are, and on whom she depended to incline this king's
heart towards her. She went in peril of her life, but would think herself safe, and would
be easy, when she had committed the keeping of her soul to God and had put herself
under his protection. She believed that God's favour was to be obtained by prayer, that
his people are a praying people, and he a prayer-hearing God. She knew it was the
practice of good people, in extraordinary cases, to join fasting with prayer, and many of
them to join together in both. She therefore, (1.) Desired that Mordecai would direct the
Jews that were in Shushan to sanctify a fast and call a solemn assembly, to meet in the
respective synagogues to which they belonged, and to pray for her, and to keep a solemn
fast, abstaining from all set meals and all pleasant food for three days, and as much as
possible from all food, in token of their humiliation for sin and in a sense of their
unworthiness of God's mercy. Those know not how to value the divine favours who
grudge thus much labour and self-denial in the pursuit of it. (2.) She promised that she
and her family would sanctify this fast in her apartment of the palace, for she might not
come to their assemblies; her maids were either Jewesses or so far proselytes that they
joined with her in her fasting and praying. Here is a good example of a mistress praying
with her maids, and it is worthy to be imitated. Observe also, Those who are confined to
privacy may join their prayers with those of the solemn assemblies of God's people;
those that are absent in body may be present in spirit. Those who desire, and have, the
prayers of others for them, must not think that this will excuse them from praying for
themselves.
2. With the courage and resolution that became a queen. “When we have sought God
in this matter, I will go unto the king to intercede for my people. I know it is not
according to the king's law, but it is according to God's law; and therefore, whatever
comes of it, I will venture, and not count my life dear to me, so that I may serve God and
his church, and, if I perish, I perish. I cannot lose my life in a better cause. Better do my
duty and die for my people than shrink from my duty and die with them.” She reasons as
the lepers (2Ki_7:4): “If I sit still, I die; if I venture, I may live, and be the life of my
people: if the worst come to the worst,” as we say, “I shall but die.” Nothing venture,
nothing win. She said not this in despair or passion, but in a holy resolution to do her

82. duty and trust God with the issue; welcome his holy will. In the apocryphal part of this
book (ch. 13 and 14) we have Mordecai's prayer and Esther's upon this occasion, and
both of them very particular and pertinent. In the sequel of the story we shall find that
God said not to this seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain.
K&D 15-16, "This pressing monition produced its result. Esther returned answer to
Mordochai: “Go, gather together all the Jews that are found in Susa, and fast ye for me: I
also and my maidens will fast; and so will I go to the king against the law; and if I perish,
I perish.” Esther resolves to go to the king unsummoned, but begs Mordochai and all the
Jews to unite in a three days' fast, during which she and her maidens will also fast, to
seek by earnest humiliation God's gracious assistance in the step she proposes to take,
for the purpose of averting the threatened destruction of her people. “Though 'God' and
'prayer' are not here mentioned, it is yet obviously assumed that it was before God that
the Jews were to humble themselves, to seek His help, and to induce Him to grant it.
1Ki_21:27-29; Joe_1:14; Jon_3:5.” (Berth.). To designate the strictness of this fasting,
the words: “neither eat nor drink,” are added. The “three days, night and day,” are not to
be reckoned as three times twenty-four hours, but to be understood of a fast which lasts
till the third day after that on which it begins; for according to Est_5:1, Esther goes to
the king on the third day. Comp. the similar definition of time, Jon_2:1. The addition
“day and night” declares that the fast was not to be intermitted. ‫ן‬ ֵ‫כ‬ ְ‫,וּב‬ and in thus, i.e., in
this state of fasting. ‫ת‬ ָ ַⅴ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬ ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫:א‬ which is not according to law. ‫ּא‬‫ל‬ ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ is used, like the
Aramaean form ‫א‬ ָ‫ל‬ ‫י‬ ִ , in the sense of without (comp. Ewald, §222, c): without according
to law = contrary to law. The last words: “if I perish, I perish,” etc., are the expression
not of despair, but of resignation, or perfect submission to the providence of God; comp.
Gen_43:14.
TRAPP, "Esther 4:15 Then Esther bade [them] return Mordecai [this answer],
Ver. 15. Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer] A sweet answer, and
such as fully satisfied him. o man’s labour can be in vain in the Lord. Good
therefore and worthy of all acceptation is the wise man’s counsel: "In the morning
sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not
whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good,"
Ecclesiastes 11:6. Mordecai had filled his mouth with arguments, and now God
filled his heart with comfort. Esther yielded, and resolves to obey him, whatever
come of it; only she will go the wisest way to work, first seeking God, and then
casting herself upon the king, Ora et labora. Words and works. God hath all hearts
in his hand, and will grant good success to his suppliants.
LA GE, "Esther 4:15. In fact this resolve was reached by her. She made request
that Mordecai, together with the Jews in Shushan, should fast three days and nights
in her behalf. Doubtless she thus expected to secure the help and protection of God
for that eventful hour and step, and therefore she declared, with great resignation,
that she would venture to fulfil their request. This fast could only mean that great
misery impended over their heads, that with a contrite spirit God’s hand was seen in
this event, and that prayer was made to God for help (comp. 1 Kings 21:27-29; Joel

83. 1:14; Jonah 3:5). That Esther still does not make mention of God, no more than did
Mordecai before this, when he asserted his faith in the indestructibility of the Jewish
nation, may easily be explained, as has been observed in the Introduction, § 3, by
remarking that it pertains to the style of the author. To the expression: fast ye for
me, Esther adds: and neither eat nor drink three days, night nor day, in order to
mark the severity of the fast. A strict fast of three days would indeed have been a
severe task, and Esther would thereby have done injury to her appearance (J. D.
Michaelis). But these three days seem, as in Jonah 2:1, not to be clearly understood;
hence the sense would be, from this day until the third day. For the fast must have
begun on the same day that Esther’s answer came to Mordecai. The “third day”
mentioned in Esther 5:1 must mean the third day from that in which the decision of
Esther was made. This decision was the main fact from which time was reckoned.
Of course we cannot expect that Mordecai should that very day have induced all the
Jews in Shushan to fast. Still it matters not so much that not all, if only many,
fasted.—And so will I go in unto the king, which is not, etc.—[‫ֵן‬‫כ‬ְ‫בּ‬, i.e, under such
circumstances, or under such conditions. ‫ת‬ָ‫ַד‬‫כּ‬ ‫ֹלא‬ ‫ר‬ֶ‫שׁ‬ֲ‫א‬ may simply mean: “which is
not legally allowed,” although not, etc. ‫ר‬ֶ‫שׁ‬ֲ‫א‬ may be taken in a neuter sense, although
‫ֹלא‬ ‫ר‬ֶ‫שׁ‬ֲ‫א‬ reminds us of the Aramaic ‫ָא‬‫ל‬ ‫י‬ִ‫,דּ‬ and hence it can easily be taken in the sense
of “without” (comp. Ewald, § 322 c). The last words: And if I perish, I perish, are an
expression of willing submission to the fate that may threaten her in the
performance of her duty (comp. Genesis 43:14). Esther had great cause to prepare
for her own destruction. She not only proposed to go to the king without being
called, but also to request something of him, which, according to Persian custom, it
was impossible to grant. She would by her petition recall the edict and thereby seem
to disregard the royal majesty. She would and indeed must reveal herself as a
daughter of this detested Jewish people thus given over to destruction. Last of all,
she must thereby place herself in open opposition to that all-powerful favorite,
Haman.
PULPIT, "Fast ye for me. Fasting for another is fasting to obtain God's blessing on
that other, and is naturally accompanied with earnest prayer to God for the person
who is the object of the fast. Thus here again the thought of God underlies the
narrative. It has been supposed that Esther could not have meant an absolute fast—
complete abstinence from both food and drink—for so long a period as three days;
but Oriental abstemiousness would not be very severely taxed by a fast of this
length. The time intended—from the evening of the first to the morning of the third
day—need not have much exceeded thirty-six hours. I also and my maidens will fast
likewise. "Likewise" is to be taken here in its proper sense, as meaning "in like
manner." We also will abstain both from meat and drink during the same Period.
BI 15-17, "Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan.
The crisis in the life of Esther
The spectacle presented reminds us—
I. That in neither place nor fortune has any one security against trial and danger. The
palace may be a prison to its inmate, the hut cannot exclude the approaches of a grief.
II. That one reason not only for gifts of place and fortune, but foe experiences of trouble

84. also, must be that we may help others in their perils. Power and opportunity measure
obligation. Even sorrow and peril as they enrich and mellow the nature, enhance the
power to help and bless.
III. That risk and difficulty do not exempt from duty or release from obligation. It is told
of the Duke of Wellington that, in one of his campaigns, an officer awoke him to say to
him that a certain enterprise to be carried into effect that night was impossible. As the
officer was going on to give reasons for this opinion, the Duke replied, “Bring me my
order-book.” Turning over its leaves, he said, “It is not at all impossible; see, it is down
in the order-book.” Whereupon he lay down to sleep again. Risks are not to be
unprovided for. Difficulties are not to be despised; but had there been none to run great
risks, to undertake in the face of great hardships, prophets and apostles had been few.
There had been no Elijah or Daniel, no John the Baptist or Paul the apostle, no Luther or
Knox.
IV. That helping to save others is often the best way to insure our own salvation. The
teaching of experience and history is that mere self-seeking is self-ruin. There is such a
thing as the solidarity of human interests. The capitalist thrives best when he promotes
the weal of the labourer, the labourer when he regards the interests of his employer. To
save my children I must help to save my neighbour’s. To one who inquired if the heathen
can be saved if we do not give them the gospel, the apt reply was, “A much more
practical question for us is whether we can be saved if we do not help to give it them.” An
eminent statesman early professed his Christian faith, and, for some years maintained a
godly walk. After a time he ceased to be religiously active, and allowed his light to be hid.
While not renouncing his faith, yet his Christian character did neither himself nor Christ
any honour. One evening he dropped into a little school-house gathering, and at the
close he introduced himself to the preacher, and after an earnest conversation with him,
he said, “Sir, I would give all the fame I now have, or expect to have, for the assurance of
that hope of which you have spoken to-night.” To be ourselves saved we must help to
save others.
V. Of the true source of courage and help in perplexity and ill. Although no distinct
mention of prayer is made, yet it is evidently implied. It is an instinct of the human heart
to resort to the Hearer of Prayer. In its distress the soul cries unto God. When a great
steamship was hourly expected to sink in mid-ocean we are told that all on board gave
themselves to prayer.
VI. That God’s providence is always over his people for good. (Sermons by Monday
Club.)
Difficulties cleared up
1. Esther’s heart was moved not to shrink from manifest duty. “Add to your faith,
virtue,” courage, a manly and determined purpose to carry out its calls to their
utmost extent. Stop not to ask leave of circumstances, of personal convenience or
indolent self-indulgence, but go forward in your appointed work. How prone we are
to shrink from disagreeable or dangerous duty. How many excuses we are able to
frame for our neglect. How easy it becomes to satisfy our sinful hearts that God will
not require that which it is so difficult or so dangerous to perform. Fly from no duty
when the word and providence of God call you forward. Go on, and trust yourself to
God.
2. Esther’s heart was moved to sincere dependence on God. Prayer seems the natural

85. voice of danger and sorrow. The ancient philosopher said, “If a man would learn to
pray, let him go to sea.” The hour of the tempest will be to multitudes a new lesson in
their relations to God. When men are in affliction and trouble they are easily led to
cry unto God. Esther and her maidens prayed. What if the husband does not or will
not bless his household? Cannot the mother and the wife collect her children and her
maidens for prayer?
3. The king’s heart was moved to listen and to accept her. The clouds have passed,
and the Lord whom she loved has given her a token for good. This is the power of
prayer, the work of providence, the influence of grace. The king’s heart is in the
hands of the Lord, and as the rivers of water, He has turned it according to His will.
What a lesson in providence is this! The same power which leads to prayer, and
supports us in prayer, at the same time works over other minds and other things to
make an answer completely ready for our enjoyment. How easily can God remove all
the stumbling-blocks out of the way of His children! “What art thou, O, great
mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.” Anticipated difficulties
suddenly vanish; enemies whom we had expected are not found; the things which
apparently threatened our hurt turn out to our advantage; and blessings which we
had not dared to hope for crowd around our path. Thus Paul found it at Rome.
4. God moved Esther’s heart to great wisdom and prudence in her management of
the undertaking she had assumed. Peculiar wisdom anal skill often are imparted to
us in answer to prayers for the accomplishment of the work of the Lord. Our
dependence and prayer have no tendency to make us headlong or rash. We are still to
employ all the proper means and agencies which our utmost wisdom will suggest to
attain the end we have in view. True piety in the exercise of its faith and love and
hope towards God, is the highest wisdom. It unites all the wisest calculation and
effort of man with all the goodness and power of God. It is a fellowship, a
partnership with God in which He furnishes all the capital, and employs our
sanctified labours alone; in which we strive to be faithful, and He promises to bless.
(S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
Esther’s petition
I. We note the fact that every one has some special mission. Esther’s special mission was
to avert the destruction which threatened her people. Is it true that all have some such
peculiar charge? We read of the decisive battles of the world and their commanders; of
the dominating philosophies and their masters; of the ruling arts and their teachers; of
the controlling religions and their high-priests; of the great reforms and their leaders.
Yet these elect ones are but as a handful of sands to the grains which make the shore, For
the rest, mere existence seems to be its own end and object. But it is not so. A persistent
pressure is in and on every heart to enter into secret communication with God, and
linking its weakness with His strength, exerts a blessed influence which, like the sound-
waves, goes on endlessly. That hour of audience with its Maker is its greatest possibility.
For that, at least, it has a special mission. From Him it receives what almost might be
called “sealed orders.” Saul of Tarsus was given his at Damascus, and so he went to
Jerusalem, not knowing how they would read as he opened them there. So every
Christian goes his way, till we find Henry Martyn preaching Christ to the Hindus, Isaac
Newton solving the problem of the apple’s fall, Leigh Richmond writing “The Dairyman’s
Daughter,” George Muller erecting his orphanage, Mary Lyon opening collegiate doors
to her sisters, and Abraham Lincoln issuing the emancipation proclamation. And though

86. not yet widely observed, the prayers, counsels, and inspirations by which gifted souls
have roused, led, and saved society originated in the closet, and kitchen, and field, where
the godly parent or teacher has fulfilled a holy and particular mission. The successful
general is feted and praised. Every soldier in the ranks is just as essential to the victory.
Every individual, however insignificant, has his momentous obligation. The child’s hand
in the lighthouse tower may turn the helm of a whole navy, that it is not strewn along the
reefs.
II. Note the fact that love for others is worthy love of self. To lose one’s love of life,
comfort, and honour in the greater love of the life, comfort, and honour of his kin is
counted the highest of human virtues. Mettus Curtius, in spurring his horse into the
yawning chasm to save Rome, was not the first nor the last to hold the welfare of the
many above that of the individual. “We have no religion to export,” meanly argued a
legislator against the Act of incorporation of the American Board. “Religion,” was the
profound reply, “is a commodity which the more we export the more we have.”
III. Note the need of timely preparation for our work. Then—always—the idea has
prevailed that united petitions, like the volume of the sea, would be mighty, while the
solitary plea, like the single drop, would be null. Jesus promised answer when two or
three were agreed in their request. Spiritual momentum, like physical, seems to be
proportioned to the quantity of soul multiplied by its eagerness. The Church has
upborne its ministers, and made them speak with authority when it has been praying
with them. Individual preparation must also be made. Esther must fast no less than her
people. She does all she can to pave the way for a favourable reception of her cause.
Jacob’s present of flocks and herds, sent forward to placate Esau, with the greeting “and
behold he is behind us,” fitly represents the forethought and tact which oftenest gains its
end. We may call it “policy”; but what harm, if it be not bribery?
IV. Note the reward of venturing in a good cause. The supreme hazard gains the
supreme desire. The fearless champion of a full and free religious life oftenest triumphs.
St. Patrick before the Druid chieftain; Wickliffe before the angry bishops, and Luther
before the Diet, succeed, when others of as noble wish, but of less courage, must have
failed. Into the densest heathenism the soldier of the Cross penetrates, and a redeemed
people build their monument of thanksgiving, not for his piety simply, but for his
bravery. Holy causes seem often to clothe their advocates in such shining dress, that
assaulting powers are abashed at the sight. (Moray Club Sermon.)
A suggestion and its operation
We have here illustrated—
I. Human obligation to suggestion. By far the majority of the imports into the soul and
life of the world are marked “via suggestion.” As the present holds in it the past, so
suggestion is the essential of progress, the root of accomplishment, the spur of duty.
Compute, if you can, the poet’s debt to suggestion; Burns and the mouse, etc. The prime
factor of invention is suggestion. Men see something, hear something, touch something,
and in a flash an idea springs full-armed and captures the mind. The eye suggests the
telescope, the heart the engine. Is naval architecture to be completely revolutionised? Is
the new leviathan to be the future type of ocean steamers? Subtract the suggestion of a
whale’s back, and what then? Human experience is largely the outcome of suggestion.
Mordecai could not command Queen Esther, but he could pace in sackcloth before the
palace gate. He could send a message to the queen making an entreating, pitiful

87. suggestion.
II. The struggle which ensues in carrying a suggestion over into practice. Carlyle has
said, “Transitions are ever full of pain.” Thus the eagle when it moults is sickly, and to
attain his new beak must harshly dash off the old one upon the rocks. There is no more
critical experience for a human soul than when a suggestion lodges in it; especially When
it means the readjustment of all our spiritual furniture, burying of cherished plans,
crucifying selfish ambition, stripping off desire, defying danger, releasing power, and
making us risk the sarcasm, the scorn which are ever the pall-bearers of failure. This
gives scope for the true heroism of life, a heroism which finds its choicest exhibit, not in
those who have the leverage of a great enthusiasm and who are consciously beneath the
eyes of a great multitude, but in those duels between souls and suggestions fought out in
the solitude of the human breast. Thus John Knox, when summoned in public assembly
to the ministry, rushes from the congregation in tears to enter, in his solitary chamber,
upon a struggle which should last for days, but the outcome of which should be a face set
like a flint. Thus Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel shrink and wrestle but obey. Thus Esther
hesitates and excuses herself on the ground of personal danger, till at last the suggestion
rides over her soul roughshod, and in the heroism of a great surrender she declares, “So
will I go in unto the king . . . and if I perish, I perish.”
III. The availing of one’s self of allies in the execution of a determined purpose. Esther
made three allies.
1. With herself. She knew her royal spouse was impulsive; she knew he was
susceptible. And so, bent on subduing him, she bedecks herself with jewels, and right
royally attired stands in the court. Impulse leaps, susceptibility flames: “She
obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre.”
2. With her husband. In the execution of a worthy purpose one may find and may
avail himself of the ally which resides in that which is to be overcome. It makes a deal
of difference how you take hold of a thing. The handle of a pail is the water-carrier’s
ally; he may despise it and fare worse! Said one of the keenest logicians in this
country, “In entering upon a debate, find, to begin with, common ground with your
antagonist, something you can both accept—a definition, a proposition, or if nothing
else, the state of the weather.” Here is a deep truth. There are natural allies in the
enemy’s country; it is strategy, it is generalship, to get into communication with
them. Esther recognised her ally, and so she approached her husband, not with
entreaty or rebuke, but with invitation. The suggestion of a feast prepared under her
direction in honour of his majesty was the warder within the castle of the fickle
king’s soul, who would not fail to raise the portcullis of his will to admit the entrance
of a queen’s desire.
3. With time. There is a ministry in wise delay; haste is not of necessity success. Is
procrastination the thief of time? Then precipitation is the assassin of it. To work
and wait—to wait for the order, the chance, the moment to strike, was a lesson
Esther had learned by heart, and so she refused to unbosom her petition till the hour
struck. When Leyden was besieged by the Spaniards the inhabitants sent word to the
enemy that they would eat their left arms and fight with their right before they would
surrender. At last, in their extremity, they told the governor they must surrender.
“Eat me, but don’t surrender,” was the heroic reply. Then some one thought of
cutting the dykes and flooding the enemy’s camp; they did it, rushed upon the enemy
in the confusion, and out of apparent disaster snatched a glorious victory.
(Nehemiah Boynton.)

88. Esther’s petition
Learn—
I. That in the exigencies of religion and of God’s kingdom, the church may demand of us
the disregard of personal safety.
II. That when God gives us a mission which we are wise enough to see and to fulfil, then
we may humbly expect that he will accomplish blessed results by the feeblest
instruments. (W. E. Boggt, D. D.)
I also and my maidens will fast likewise.
Mistress and maid
Some, it is probable, of Esther’s maids were heathens when they came into her service.
Yet we find her promising that they would fast. She can answer for them, as Joshua for
his household, that they would serve the Lord. If mistresses were as zealous as Queen
Esther for the honour of God and the conversion of sinners, they would bestow pains
upon the instruction and religious improvement of their female servants. If women may
gain to Christ their own husbands by their good conversation, may they not also gain the
souls of their servants? and if they are gained to Christ, they are gained to themselves
also. (G. Lawson.)
Fasting is in itself a prayer
It is remarkable that nothing is here said about prayer, but fasting was in itself a prayer;
for it was not a form put on from without, but the natural expression of the inner
emotion, and as an application to God, it is to be explained much as we do the touching
of the Saviour by the woman, who in that way sought her cure. Words are signs, just as
fasting is a sign. That which is essential in either is genuineness. God does not look to
the words themselves, any more than He does to the fasting in itself. He has regard only
to that which the soul expresses, either by the one or through the other. The touch of the
soul of the woman went to the Master’s heart through her touching of His garment with
her fingers; and the yearning of the soul of Esther, through her fasting, made its appeal
to Jehovah, even though she did not breathe His name. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
And so will I go in unto the king.—
Prayer accompanied by appropriate use of means
She will not think that her duty is done when she has prayed and fasted. She will seek, by
the use of proper means, to obtain that blessing which she has been asking. The
insincerity of our prayers is too often discovered by our sloth and cowardice. We ask
blessings from God, and, as if He were bound to confer them, not according to His own
will, but according to ours, we take no care to use those means which He hath appointed
for obtaining them, or we do not use them with requisite diligence. (G. Lawson.)

89. Courage to face difficulties
There are two kinds of courage—the mere animal courage, which results from well-
strung nerves, and is exerted by impulse rather than by reflection; and the moral
courage, which, on a calm calculation of difficulties, and of the path of duty, will face the
difficulties and prosecute the path of duty at any hazard, even at the risk of life itself. It
will often be found that men are deficient in the latter of these qualities, while they are
remarkable for the former. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Esther’s resolve
I. The Preparation: fasting and prayer.
1. Fasting is abused by the Church of Rome, therefore disused by many who belong
to the Church of Christ. Deep feeling will make fasting natural. Moses (Exo_34:28),
Elijah (1Ki_19:7-8), Christ (Mat_4:2), fasted forty days each. See Ezra’s fast (Ezr_
8:21; Ezr_8:23). Directions how to fast (Mat_6:16-18). Paul was given to fasting
(2Co_6:4; 2Co_6:6; 2Co_11:27). Fasting is useless without faith. The Pharisee (Luk_
18:12).
2. Prayer. Three days’ special prayer. The Jews in their synagogues. Esther in the
palace. With what humility, sorrowful confession, and earnestness did they pray!
II. The resolution: “So will I go in unto the king,” etc. There are some points of
resemblance and of contrast between the case of Esther and that of the poor sinner.
1. Points of resemblance.
(1) She was in extreme danger (verse 13). So with the sinner (Psa_7:11-17).
(2) There was no other way for her escape. “By no means” (Psa_49:7).
(3) This way seemed full of difficulty and danger. Haman’s influence the king’s
temper. The royal guards.
2. Points of contrast.
(1) She went into the presence of an earthly monarch who was partial,
changeable, irritable, weak. God is always the same.
(2) She was uninvited. The sinner pressed to come.
(3) The law forbade her to come.
(4) The king has apparently forgotten her for thirty days.
(5) She might have been stopped by the guards.
(6) She might have been misunderstood.
(7) She might have failed by going the wrong time.
Lessons—
1. Warning. Danger threatens.
2. Instruction. Prepare.
3. Encouragement. (The Study and the Pulpit.)

90. And if I perish, I perish.—
Love to God stronger than death
“If I perish, I perish.” Our lives are not our own; they cannot be long preserved by us.
They will be of little value to us without a good conscience. The life which is purchased
by neglect of duty is shameful, bitter, worse than death. Whoever shall save his life in
this manner shall lose it in this world as well as in the next. But to lose life for the sake of
Christ and a good conscience is truly to live. A day of life employed in the most
hazardous duties, by which we show that our love to God is stronger than death, excels a
thousand days of a life spent in the service and enjoyment of the world. (G. Lawson.)
Esther’s resolve
I. The impending danger.
1. A wicked, crafty, designing foe.
2. An irrevocable decree of destruction.
3. No visible way of escape,
II. The bold resolution.
III. The solemn preliminary: fasting and prayer.
IV. The successful issue.
1. Life spared.
2. Enemy is destroyed.
3. Honour is given. (The Study and the Pulpit.)
The crisis met
I. Observe the queen’s modesty—her extraordinary prudence at the very moment that
she is most successful. Her request was a simple invitation to have the king come to a
banquet of wine the next day, and as a mark of regard for his preferences, she wishes
him to bring Haman.
II. In Esther’s fasting and prayer and pious courage we see that faith and piety are not
always shorn of their fruits under unfavourable influences; they may flourish in a palace.
In a chaotic state of society a pious man may have greater difficulties to overcome in
maintaining a godly walk, but then, in overcoming these difficulties, he will gain a
greater degree of spiritual strength.
III. Queen Esther was a true representative woman. Every one is raised up as she was,
not to be a Sultana, and do just the work she did, but to do his or her own work. Every
one has a duty to perform—a post to maintain—a lot to fulfil.
IV. It may sometimes be our duty to ourselves, our country, our fellow-men and our
God to put our lives in jeopardy for the truth, or for the church, and for the sake of
Jesus. True piety ought to make men brave.

91. V. We should never fear to do our duty. The God whom we serve is able either to sustain
us under our trials or to deliver us out of them. Why should we yield to the fear of man
that bringeth a snare, seeing that we are in the hands of Him who holdeth the hearts of
all men and of devils in His hand?
VI. The privilege and efficacy of prayer.
1. As Henry remarks, here is an example of a mistress praying with her maids that is
worthy of being followed by all housekeepers and heads of families.
2. And we are here encouraged to ask the sympathy and prayers of others when we
undertake any great or perilous enterprise. The king’s favourite was her greatest
enemy. But if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, even His own Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
VII. One of the gracious designs of affliction is to make us feel our dependence upon
God. A gracious result of trials to the people of God is that it drives them to prayer. But
the court of heaven is not like that of Persia, into which there was no entrance for those
that were in mourning or clothed with sackcloth. Such could not come near the palace of
Ahasuerus. But it is the weary, the heavy-laden, and the sorrowing that are especially
invited to the throne of grace, and invited to come boldly. “Is any among you afflicted,”
saith the apostle James, “let him pray.” (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
Courage ought to be cultivated
The exigencies of human existence call loudly for the cultivation of courage. Victory is
frequently suspended upon boldness. Cromwell’s Ironsides were accustomed to enter
the battle shouting, “The Lord is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” They were
always victorious. The Christian’s heroism should be like that of the Prince of Conde,
who, when offered by his monarch the choice between three things—“To go to Mass, to
die, or to be imprisoned”—heroically replied, “I am perfectly resolved never to go to
Mass, so between the other two I leave the choice to your majesty.” If Luther dared to
enter the Diet of Worms relying on the justice of his cause and the protection of God,
assuredly the Christian in this age may confidently face the dangers which confront him.
Genuine piety has a powerful tendency to develop heroism. Moses, Elijah, Nathan,
Daniel, John the Baptist, etc. (J. S. Van Dyke, D. D.)
Moral heroism
1. The Christian should make no concealment of his piety. If Esther dared to reveal
her religion, asking her maidens to unite in imploring the interposition of Jehovah,
surely the Christian ought not to cloak his.
2. Sympathy shown to the suffering is advantageous to the giver as well as to the
receiver.
3. Those who resist the evidence that the Church is not infrequently in a condition
calling for immediate deliverance are enemies of true religion, not friends.
4. Christians should possess moral heroism.
5. If desirous of securing deliverance for the Church, we should endeavour to
impress upon each a keen sense of personal responsibility.

92. 6. We should endeavour to sustain those who are passing through trials for us.
Mordecai and the Jewish people engaged in prayer while Esther exposed herself to
death on their behalf.
7. Assurance of deliverance should impel to the performance of present duty. (J. S.
Van Dyke, D. D.)
Esther’s peril and its attendant success
Notice—
I. The situation in which esther was placed.
II. Her conduct in the emergency.
III. The success which attended her application. (R. P. Buddicom.)
Esther’s resolve
This was not—
I. The resolution of a fatalist who acts upon the principle that what is destined to be
must be.
II. The resolution of desperation, which feels “matters cannot be worse, and to have
done the utmost may bring relief, while it cannot possibly aggravate the evil.”
III. The resolution of a person prostrated under difficulties, and yet, with a vague hope
of deliverance, saying, “I will make one effort more, and if that fail, and all is lost, I can
but die.” Esther’s purpose was framed in a spirit altogether different. It was the heroism
of true piety, which in providence shut up to one course, and that, full of danger, counts
the cost, seeks help of God, and calmly braves the danger, saying, “He will deliver me if
He have pleasure in me; if not, I perish in the path of duty.” (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Access to the throne
I remember at the time of that marvellous “blizzard,” as it was called, in America, there
was an astounding instance of roundabout communication. There were parties in
Philadelphia who wanted to communicate with Boston, but all the telegraph lines were
down, and they actually cabled the message across the sea to London, and from London
by cable to Boston, in order to get the message through which it was desired to
communicate to parties in that city. This may illustrate what I mean, that sometimes,
when interruption of communication exists on earth, or there are closed doors or
insurmountable obstacles which hinder our effective labour, and when in vain we knock
and ring at the closed doors, or attempt to overcome the hindrances that exist between
us and the ends that we desire to attain—if we can get access to the King of kings, and if
we can send our message up to the throne, from the throne the answer will come. We
shall find that the surest way to get to the upper storey of the house, or to reach across
the intervening obstacles that have accumulated in our path, is to approach the desired
end by way of God’s throne. (A. T. Pierson.)

93. Gospel-consecration
does not go farther than this. Everything dear and valued was left behind in order that
she might serve God. “All things were counted but loss” that she might maintain “a
conscience void of offence towards God and towards man.” Ah! how this believer, in old
times, when as yet the Saviour was only had in promise, puts to shame many in these
latter days who are in possession of the finished salvation! Even the pleasures of sense,
and the wealth and rewards of the world, keep them in a state of indecision and
vacillation, if not of absolute indifference, to the call and claims of the gospel. (T.
McEwan.).
16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in
Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for
three days, night or day. I and my attendants will
fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the
king, even though it is against the law. And if I
perish, I perish.”
BAR ES, "Again the religious element shows itself. Esther’s fast could have no
object but to obtain God’s favor and protection in the dangerous course on which she
was about to enter.
CLARKE, "Fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days - What a
strange thing, that still we hear nothing of prayer, nor of God! What is the ground on
which we can account for this total silence? I know it not. She could not suppose there
was any charm in fasting, sackcloth garments, and lying on the ground. If these were not
done to turn away the displeasure of God, which seemed now to have unchained their
enemies against them, what were they done for?
If I perish, I perish - If I lose my life in this attempt to save my people, I shall lose it
cheerfully. I see it is my duty to make the attempt; and, come what will, I am resolved to
do it. She must, however, have depended much on the efficacy of the humiliations she
prescribed.

94. GILL, "Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan,.... To
acquaint them with what follows; but not to continue in a body together, which might
cause suspicion of an ill design in them; according to the latter Targum, 12,000 chosen
priests were found in it; but that must be an exaggeration of their number; it can hardly
be thought there were so many Jews in all there:
and fast ye for me; that is, pray for her, that she might have courage to go in to the
king, and meet with success; for prayer was the principal thing, fasting only an accessory
to it, and as fitting for it, and expressive of affliction and humiliation of soul:
and neither eat nor drink three days, night nor day; it was to be a continued fast
unto the third day; as Aben Ezra interprets it, they were not to eat at evening, but fast
two whole days, and two whole nights, until the third day came, on which Esther went in
to the king, Est_5:1.
I also and my maidens will fast likewise; in the same manner and as long; these
maids of honour were either proselytes, perhaps of her making, or Jewish ladies, she
being allowed by the king to choose whom she pleased:
and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; or
"afterwards", or "and then" (d) when they, and she and her maids, had fasted and prayed
so long, then she was determined in the strength of the Lord to go into the king's
presence with her petition, though it was contrary to law:
and if I perish, I perish; signifying, that she readily and cheerfully risked her life for
the good of her people; and if such was the pleasure of God, that she should lose it, she
was content, and acquiesced in his will, leaving herself entirely in his hands, to dispose
of her as he thought fit.
JAMISO , "so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law
— The appeal of Mordecai was irresistible. Having appointed a solemn fast of three days,
she expressed her firm resolution to make an appeal to the king, though she should
perish in the attempt.
I ... and my maidens — It is probable that she had surrounded herself with Jewish
maidens, or women who were proselytes to that religion.
BE SO , "Esther 4:16. And fast ye for me — And pray, which was the main
business, to which fasting was only a help; and neither eat nor drink three days —
amely, in such a manner as you used to do. Abstain from all set meals, and all
pleasant food, and, as much as possible, from all food, for that space of time, in
token of humiliation for sin, and a sense of our unworthiness of God’s mercies. I
also and my maidens will fast likewise — They were, doubtless, either of the Jewish
nation or proselytes, and pious persons, who, she knew, would sincerely join with
her in these holy duties. And so will I go in unto the king — To intercede for my
people. Which is not according to the law — amely, the king’s law, now
mentioned, but it is according to God’s law, and therefore whatever comes of it, I
will venture, and not count my life dear to myself, so I may serve God and his

95. church. And if I perish, I perish — Although my danger be great and evident,
considering the expressness of that law, the uncertainty of the king’s mind, and that
severity which he showed to my predecessor Vashti; yet, rather than neglect my
duty to God and to his people, I will go to the king, and cast myself cheerfully and
resolutely upon God’s providence for my safety and success. If I should be
condemned to lose my life, I cannot lose it in a better cause.
TRAPP, "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.
Ver. 16. Go, gather together all the Jews] Great is the power of joint prayer, it stirs
heaven, and works wonders. Oh, when a Church full of good people shall set sides
and shoulders to work, when they shall rouse up themselves and wrestle with God,
when their pillars of incense shall come up into his presence, and their voices be
heard as the voices of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, Revelation
14:2, what may not such thundering legions have at God’s hands? Have it? they will
have it: Caelum tundimus, preces fundimus, misericordiam extorquemus, said those
primitive prayer-makers. Revelation 9:13, the prayers of the saints from the four
corners of the earth sound, and do great things in the world, they make it ring. It
was the speech of a learned man, if there be but one sigh come from a gracious heart
(how much more, then, a volley of sighs from many good hearts together!) it filleth
the ears of God, so that God heareth nothing else.
And fast ye for me] Who am now upon my life, and, for aught I know, am shortly to
appear before the Lord (who requireth to be sanctified in all them that draw near
unto him), and wherein I may not look to have leave to err twice, on licet in belle
bis errare. Point, therefore, your prayers for me with holy fastings, that they may
pierce heaven and prevail. Abstinence meriteth not, saith a grave divine (Dr Hall),
for religion consisteth not in the belly, either full or empty; (What are meats or
drinks to the kingdom of God, which is, like himself, spiritual?) but it prepareth
best for good duties. Full bellies are fitter for rest. ot the body so much as the soul
is more active with emptiness; hence solemn prayer taketh ever fasting to attend it;
and so much the rather speedeth in heaven, when it is so accompanied. It is good so
to diet the body, that the soul may be fattened.
And neither eat nor drink three days, &c.] That is, saith Drusius, two whole nights,
one whole day, and part of two other days. See the like expression, Matthew 12:40.
Others say, that in those hot countries they might fast three days as well as we two
in these cold climates. Tully in one of his epistles telleth us, that he fasted two days
together, without so much as tasting a little water. For the Romans, also, and
Grecians had their fasts private and public, whether it were by a secret instinct of
nature, or by an imitation of the Hebrews, Faciunt et vespae favos. The Turks
likewise at this day precisely observe their fasts, and will not so much as taste a cup

96. of water, or wash their mouths with water, all the day long, before the stars appear
in the sky, be the days never so long and hot. The Hollanders and French fast, but
had need, saith one, to send for those mourning women, Jeremiah 9:17, by their
cunning to teach them to mourn. The English are not sick soon enough, saith
another, and they are well too soon: this is true of their minds as well as of their
bodies. Currat ergo poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia; and let our fasts be either
from morning till evening, 20:26, 2 Samuel 3:35, or from evening till evening,
Leviticus 23:32, or longer, as here, and Acts 9:9, as the hand and wrath of God doth
more or less threaten us, or lie upon us. There is an old Canon that defineth their
continuance, till stars appear in the sky, Usque dum stellae in caelo appareant.
I also and my maids will fast] She herself would be in the head of them, as Queen
Elizabeth also told her soldiers at Tilbury camp for their comfort; and as Caesar
used to say to his soldiers, Go we, and not Go ye, on ite, sed eamus; and as Joshua
said, I and my house will serve Jehovah, Joshua 24:15. Esther’s maids must fast and
pray, or they are no maids for her.
And so will I go unto the king] It is said of Achilles, that he was Styge armatus; but
he that fasteth, prayeth, believeth, Est caelo, Christo, Deo armatus, armed with an
undaunted resolution to obey God whatever come of it.
Which is not according to the law] She slights not the law, but waves it, to obey
God’s law, and save her people.
And if I perish, I perish] This she speaketh not rashly or desperately, as prodigal of
her life, but as sacrificing the same to God and his cause, through the obedience of
faith, and saying, as that martyr, Can I die but once for Christ? See the like phrase,
Genesis 43:14, {See Trapp on "Genesis 43:14"} Better do worthily, and perish for a
kingdom, than unworthily, and perish with a kingdom.
WHEDO , "16. Fast ye… three days — The perilous enterprise, in which she
would be so liable to perish, was not to be undertaken without much fasting and
prayer. Though prayer is not mentioned, it undoubtedly accompanied the fasting, as
in the cases of ehemiah ( ehemiah 1:4) and Daniel, (Daniel 9:3.)
ight or day — Sometimes fasting was observed for many days, but intermitted at
night. This special fast was to have no intermission.

97. 17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of
Esther’s instructions.
GILL, "So Mordecai went his way,.... About the business he was directed to; the
word used having sometimes the signification of passing over or transgressing, Jarchi
interprets it of Mordecai's transgressing the command, by fasting on a festival; the letter
being written on the thirteenth of Nisan, Est_3:12, the next day was the passover, on
which he supposes the fast began; and the three days were, the fourteenth, fifteenth, and
sixteenth of the month, and belonged to the feast of the passover and of unleavened
bread; so the Targum:
and did according to all that Esther had commanded him; got the Jews
together, and kept a fast three days; according to the Midrash (e) they were the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of Nisan.
K&D, "And Mordochai went his way, i.e., from the place before the court of the king,
to do what the queen had commanded him to do.
TRAPP, "Esther 4:17 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that
Esther had commanded him.
Ver. 17. So Mordecai went his way, and did according, &c.] As he had put her upon
a dangerous, but, as the cause stood, necessary, exploit (nature will venture its own
particular good for the general, as heavy things will ascend to keep our vacuity, and
preserve the universe); so he is ruled by her (though a woman, and once his pupil)
when he perceived her counsel was good. Abraham must hear Sarah, and David
Abigail, and Apollos Priscilla, when they speak reason. It is foretold of a man in
Christ, that a little child shall lead him, Isaiah 11:6.
LA GE, "Esther 4:17. Mordecai went forth to fulfil the wish of Esther. The verb
‫ַר‬‫ב‬ָ‫ע‬ has induced the Targums and older interpreters, as J. D. Michaelis, to advance
the opinion that he had violated, “passed over,” namely, the law, which ordered the
Paschal feast to be celebrated in a joyous manner (from Esther 3:12 it might follow
that we are still in the time of the Passover); but the word has the meaning of: going
away, going further. It has its explanation as contrasting with what Mordecai had
done before, since, so long as Esther’s answer was not satisfactory, he remained
standing there.

98. LA GE, DOCTRI AL A D ETHICAL
Esther 4:1 sqq1. Mordecai rends his clothing, and puts on sack-cloth and ashes. He
enters the city thus, and raises a great and bitter lamentation. So also the Church of
God, in its development as regards the history of humanity, should again and ever
anew put on the habiliments of mourning. “The world shall rejoice: and ye shall be
sorrowful.” The then existing nation of Jews could not manifest its loyalty to the law
without coming into conflict with heathendom. or can the Church bring to
development its inherent spiritual powers without challenging all the Hamans and
their opposition in the world. Even this present period is an instance in proof.
Following upon the great progress of the things of the kingdom of God since the
time of wars for freedom, we must naturally expect reactions, such as have been
manifest in the sphere of science and other relations. Indeed, we must constantly
look for increasing opposition on the part of the world. But when the Church shall
have most fully developed the gifts of grace granted to it, then conflict and sorrow
will have reached its highest point at the end of days. The real cause of sorrow on
the part of the true members of God’s Church will not be, as was the case with
Mordecai, their own distress, but that of the world. It will consist in the fact that the
world is still devoid of the blessed society of the true God; that the kingdom of God
is still rejected and even persecuted. What joy it would give, if, instead of enmity,
recognition and submission, and, instead of disdain, a participation in the gifts and
grace of our Lord were to become the universal experience!
2. The more difficult the position of the Church as in contrast with the World, the
more favorable is her position for bringing to view her glory. Her glory is that of her
Head. If even in the Old Testament times, and in the “dispersion” itself, there
existed a Mordecai, who for love of the people manifested his firmness and strength
in the hour of tribulation; and if there was found an Esther, who, when called upon,
willingly came forward to bring about the salvation of her countrymen; how much
more in ew Testament times and in the modern Church will there arise
individuals, who, in following the Lord, especially in evil days, will manifest a
watch-care for others and a self-sacrificing spirit for them; who will show forth
patience and meekness, as well as energy, fidelity and tenacity, a spirit of giving and
an ability to make sacrifices; and withal will carry in their hearts joy and peace as
the seal of their kinship with God. All these graces may be so many illuminating
rays of the glorious life of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who more and more
attains in them a full stature. May all Seize the special opportunity, recognize the
particular duty, and know when to perform it, which the times of distress of the
Church place in their hand, of showing forth the power that dwells in them by their

99. life and work!
3. Mordecai took an especially great part in the universal grief that overcame the
Jews when the edict of their annihilation was issued and promulgated. It was not his
personal danger that alarmed him, but, as may be expected of such a faithful
follower of Judaism, it was the calamity threatening the whole Jewish people. While,
however, thought and feeling were centred upon the event, he was free from despair.
With him it was a settled conviction that the people of God, as a whole, could not be
destroyed, and that deliverance must come from some source. Instead of giving way
to despondency, he turned his distress into a power that urged him to still greater
endeavors. There was no more a fear of appearing as a Jew, nor did he hesitate
because his loud lamentation would attract general attention, and thereby expose
him to the derision and disdain of many. However reluctant he might have been to
expose his beloved Esther, whose welfare had ever been a matter of great concern to
him, to extreme danger, still he persisted with the greatest determination that she
should run the whole risk, and only rested when she gave her assent. It is barely
possible that he attributed some blame to himself because of his firmness against
Haman, or thought that on that account he more than any other was under
obligation to remove the threatened danger. The sole moving impulse was doubtless
his love for his people. But this should not be less in any true member of the Church.
It should rather, in proportion as there are more members in the body of Christ, be
the stronger than it was in him. Would that no one among us were behind him as
regards energy, self-denial and a willingness to make sacrifices! There are doubtless
many who are able to endure all this in their own person. But—if no lighter
consideration—the thought that their relatives, yea, even wife and children, may
suffer on account of their confession, bows them down. Would, if necessary, that we
too may stand equal to Mordecai in willingness to surrender our dearest kin!
Esther 4:6 sqq. Mordecai manifests a remarkable tenacity as opposed to Esther. He
keeps his position at the gate of the king until she sends him not only her maids with
garments, but also Hatach to transmit his message. He departs not thence until she
has resolved to stand before Ahasuerus as a Jew pleading for the Jews. Under other
circumstances he might have been thought to be tiresome by his persistency and
demands; but his relation to her now justified it. When he had been accustomed to
inquire concerning her health and well-being, to give her counsel, to care for her, he
had shown no less persistency; and his demand that now she should reveal her
Jewish descent, and as such should venture all, was equally in keeping with his
character. So long as no danger threatened he counseled her to keep silence
respecting her Jewish parentage; but now he had himself taken the lead in an open
confession of the fact. Although it had before been difficult for him to approach
Esther as the queen, or request any favor at her hand, now he hesitated no longer to
implore her help, not so much for himself, as for the whole people. There was no
motive for him to be selfish, or to conduct himself in a heartless or severe manner
towards her. Hence there was no question but that his undertaking would succeed,
that Esther would be willing to comply with his request. It is eminently desirable
that those who, like him, must move and induce others to make sacrifices of self and
possessions in the service of the kingdom of God, should stand on a level with him in

100. this respect.
Brenz: “At first the lazy (i. e. Jews) do not snore. For the Holy Spirit exhorts us in
all adversities to confide in the Lord; He does not exhort us to be indolent,
indifferent and sleepy. For our confidence in the Lord is a powerful and efficacious
means of stimulating in His service all strength and limbs.… Further, the Jews,
though in the greatest peril, do not utter virulent words against the king, nor do
they fly to arms.… Mordecai and the other Jews rend their garments, put on sack-
cloth, strew ashes upon their heads, wail, weep and fast. These manifestations
signify not that the Jews in Persia were turbulent, but that they take refuge in God;
since help could not be discovered upon earth, they seek it from heaven.… ‘The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou
wilt not despise.’.… By this example we too are taught that when afflictions are sent
upon us, we should reflect that God then sets before us the fat oxen and calves
which we may offer to Him. In this way we offer to God in our prayers the
afflictions which we sustain, and call upon the name of the Lord that He may help
us.… Behold, however, the reverse of this order of things. The palaces of princes are
divinely instituted to be the places of refuge for the miserable. On the contrary in
the palaces of Persia nothing is regarded as more odious and abominable than men
with the signs of affliction.… Heaven is ever open to the cries of mourners, and God
is never unapproachable to those calling on His name by faith.”
Starke: “Temporal fortunes and successes are never so great as not to be subject to
sorrow, terror and fear ( Sirach 40:3). God permits His Church to be plunged into
sorrow at times; He leads her even into hell; but He also takes her out again ( 1
Samuel 2:16). Though the Lord elevate us to high honors, we should never be
ashamed of our poor relatives ( Genesis 47:2), but rather relieve their needs ( 1
Samuel 22:3). We should never reject proper and suitable means to escape a danger,
but promptly use them ( 2 Corinthians 11:32-33).”
Esther 4:13 sqq. Mordecai manifests a precious sense of trust, saying: “For if thou
altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and
deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.” But he who would save his soul
will lose it. The risk which Mordecai called upon Esther to assume, that she should
come to the king uninvited, and manifest herself as a daughter of the people thus
devoted to destruction, was indeed great and important. Moreover, the hope that
Xerxes would recall his edict, thus, according to Persian ideas, endangering the
respect due his royal majesty, and likewise abandoning his favorite minister, was
very uncertain of fulfilment. But Esther had been elevated to a high position.
Mordecai, who in a doubting manner sends her word: “Who knoweth whether thou
art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” doubtless did it from a conviction
that she must now prove herself worthy of such distinction, if she would retain it. He
also conveys the idea that the higher her position the greater her responsibility, and
consequently, in case of failure because of carelessness or fearfulness, the more
intense her guilt. In these convictions of Mordecai are contained the most earnest
exhortations even for us. This is especially true since we are all called to be joint
heirs of Jesus Christ to the throne of the heavenly kingdom. In the deportment of

101. Esther a no less reminder to duty is contained. It appears quite natural that Esther
should order a fast not only to be observed by Mordecai and the rest of the Jews,
but she also imposed on herself this fast of three days’ duration. Had she had a little
more of the common discretion of her sex, she would have feared the effects of the
fast upon her appearance. Hence she would have adopted quite a different plan or
preparation previous to her entrance into the king’s presence. Here also she reveals
the same attractive feature of mind and manner as when she was first presented to
the king. Instead of placing reliance upon what she should externally put on or
adorn herself with, we find her trust placed upon something higher. She well knows
that she will only succeed if the great and exalted Lord be for her, who,
notwithstanding His glorious majesty, yet dwells among the most lowly of men. It is
in just such times as these, when we are raised to the greatest endeavors and self-
sacrifices, that we must not expect to accomplish these things by our own power, but
only through Him who in our weakness is our strength. Otherwise, despite our best
intentions and most successful beginnings, we shall soon grow discouraged and fail.
Our own weakness is but too often made manifest to our eyes. It is only when we
consider and remember that the hand of the Lord is in it all that we will be saved
from a lack of courage.
Brenz: “As it is the most pleasing worship to God to support the Church with all
our strength, so He execrates no one more than him who withholds from the Church
when in danger that help which he is able to render.… If the cry of a single poor
man is so availing that although unheard by Prayer of Manasseh, it finds an
avenging ear in God, what must be the influence of the cry of the whole Church in
her affliction imploring assistance from Him who it hopes is able to help?… This
teaches us that God confers power upon princes, riches upon the rich, wisdom upon
the wise, and other gifts upon others, not that they may abuse them for their own
pleasure, but that they may assist the Church of God, and protect it in whatever
way they can. For the Church on earth is so great in the eyes of God, that He
requires of all men whatever may serve her. ‘The people,’ He says, ‘and the king
that will not serve thee shall perish, and the nations shall dwell in a solitary place.’ ”
Starke: “Our flesh is always timid when it has to encounter a hazard ( Exodus 4:13).
My Christ in His divine majesty stands at the entrance into the faith, and sounds the
free invitation to each and all, ‘ever frequent, ever dear, ever happy’ ( Sirach 25:20-
21). One should succor his neighbor in peril and need ( Proverbs 24:11; Psalm 82:3),
and especially the brethren in the faith ( Galatians 6:10), even at the peril of one’s
own life ( 1 John 3:16). We are born for good not to ourselves, but to others, and
thus God oftentimes shows us that through us He aids our own, our country and the
community ( Genesis 45:5). Faith is the victory that overcomes the world ( 1 John
5:8). We may use ordinary prayer for important blessings ( James 5:14; Genesis
24:7; Genesis 43:14). Life can never be spent better than when it is the aim to lose it
( Matthew 16:25; Acts 20:24; Acts 21:13).”
Footnotes:
F #1 - Esther 4:1. ‫,זעק‬ a later or Aramæan form for ‫,זעק‬ seems to be intensive of ‫קרא‬

102. , including the simple call for help, ‫,שׁוע‬ and the shriek from pain or danger, ‫,אנק‬ and
denotes an earnest and vociferous demonstration.—Tr.]
F #2 - Esther 4:3. See ote7 in preceding section.—Tr.]
F #3 - Esther 4:11. The pronoun, being expressed in the original, is emphatic.—Tr.]
F #4 - “To rend one’s clothes in grief was as much a Persian as a Jewish practice
(see Herod. viii99; Æschylus, Pers. 540–1, 1039, etc.).” Rawlinson.—Tr.]
F #5 - “According to Herodotus (iii69), the wives of a Persian king, whether
primary or secondary, shared his bed in rotation. As their number sometimes
exceeded three hundred, the turn of a particular wife might not come for nearly a
year.” Rawlinson.—Tr.]
F #6 - As to the golden sceptre Rawlinson observes. “A modern critic asks: ‘Is it
likely that a Persian king would always have a golden sceptre by him to stretch out
towards intruders on his privacy? It seems enough to reply that in all the numerous
representations of Persian kings at Persepolis, there is not one in which the monarch
does not hold a long tapering staff (which is probably the ‘sceptre’ of Esther) in his
right hand.”—Tr.]