Esther4
New American Standard
1When Mordecai learned of everything that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.
2And he came as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.
3In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and mourning rites; and many had sackcloth and ashes spread out as a bed.
4Then Esther’s attendants and her eunuchs came and informed her, and the queen was seized by great fear. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he would remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.
5Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king’s eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this mourning was and why it was happening.
6So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square, in front of the king’s gate.
7Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the elimination of the Jews.
8He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their annihilation, so that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and plead with him for her people.
9So Hathach came back and reported Mordecai’s words to Esther.
10Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai:
11“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king in the inner courtyard, who is not summoned, he has only one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.”
12And they reported Esther’s words to Mordecai.
13Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the other Jews.
14For if you keep silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
15Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
16“Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants also will fast in the same way. And then I will go in to the king, which is not in accordance with the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
17So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Esther 4.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The Jews lament their danger. (1–4). Esther undertakes to plead for the Jews. (5–17).
vv1-4
Mordecai avowed his relation to the Jews. Public calamities, that oppress the church of God, should affect our hearts more than any private affliction, and it is peculiarly distressing to occasion sufferings to others. God will keep those that are exposed to evil by the tenderness of their consciences.
vv5-17
We are prone to shrink from services that are attended with peril or loss. But when the cause of Christ and his people demand it, we must take up our cross, and follow him. When Christians are disposed to consult their own ease or safety, rather than the public good, they should be blamed. The law was express, all knew it. It is not thus in the court of the King of kings: to the footstool of his throne of grace we may always come boldly, and may be sure of an answer of peace to the prayer of faith. We are welcome, even into the holiest, through the blood of Jesus. Providence so ordered it, that, just then, the king's affections had cooled toward Esther; her faith and courage thereby were the more tried; and God's goodness in the favour she now found with the king, thereby shone the brighter. Haman no doubt did what he could to set the king against her. Mordecai suggests, that it was a cause which, one way or other, would certainly be carried, and which therefore she might safely venture in. This was the language of strong faith, which staggered not at the promise when the danger was most threatening, but against hope believed in hope. He that by sinful devices will save his life, and will not trust God with it in the way of duty, shall lose it in the way of sin. Divine Providence had regard to this matter, in bringing Esther to be queen. Therefore thou art bound in gratitude to do this service for God and his church, else thou dost not answer the end of thy being raised up. There is wise counsel and design in all the providences of God, which will prove that they are all intended for the good of the church. We should, every one, consider for what end God has put us in the place where we are, and study to answer that end: and take care that we do not let it slip. Having solemnly commended our souls and our cause to God, we may venture upon his service. All dangers are trifling compared with the danger of losing our souls. But the trembling sinner is often as much afraid of casting himself, without reserve, upon the Lord's free mercy, as Esther was of coming before the king. Let him venture, as she did, with earnest prayer and supplication, and he shall fare as well and better than she did. The cause of God must prevail: we are safe in being united to it.
Key Words
מׇרְדְּכַי: Mordecai, an Israelite
יָדַע: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.)
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
עָשָׂה: to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application
קָרַע: to rend, literally or figuratively (revile, paint the eyes, as if enlarging them)
בֶּגֶד: a covering, i.e. clothing; also treachery or pillage
לָבַשׁ: properly, wrap around, i.e. (by implication) to put on agarment or clothe (oneself, or another), literally or figuratively
שַׂק: properly, a mesh (as allowing a liquid to run through), i.e. coarse loose cloth or sacking (used in mourning and for bagging); hence, a bag (for grain, etc.)
אֵפֶר: ashes
יָצָא: to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proxim.
Cross References
Esther 4The execution of the law: the king holding out the golden sceptre to Esther.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Jacob's expression of resignation 'if I be bereaved, I am bereaved' parallels Esther's 'if I perish, I perish'.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Refers to the original decree published in Shushan which Mordecai gives in writing to Esther.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Esther's elevation to the kingdom, showing God's sovereign hand in raising her up for this crisis.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
A solemn public fast called for the assembly in a time of national destruction.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Esther appeals to the king mentioning the sum of money/destruction Mordecai warned her about.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The actual physical execution of holding out the golden sceptre to Esther.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Warning against failing to deliver those drawn unto death under the pretense of ignorance.
Supported by Matthew Henry
A fast with sackcloth and ashes, crying mightily to God to avert imminent destruction.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The ancient practice of tearing garments and putting on sackcloth in moments of extreme grief.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Sitting down among the ashes as a sign of absolute distress and humiliation.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Similar court custom where those in deep mourning could not directly approach the king.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Esther's hidden Jewish identity which she must now break silence on to save her people.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Subsequent institutionalization of these fasts and their cryings in Jewish tradition.
Supported by JFB