Esther Agrees to Help the Jews. Esther 4:1-17
II. THE PLOT EXPOSED, Esther 4-7
1. Mordecai’s Appeal to Esther, Est_4:1-17
4. What patriotic duty did Mordecai urge upon Esther?
ESTHER AGREES TO HELP THE JEWS
Now when Mordecai learned of everything that had been done, he tore his clothes [in mourning], and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the center of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly.
He went [only] as far as the king’s gate, because no one was to enter the king’s gate dressed in sackcloth.
In each and every province that the decree and law of the king reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.
When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her [what had happened], the queen was seized by great fear. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he would remove his sackcloth, but he did not accept them.
Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to find out what this issue was and why it had come about.
So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the [open] square of the city, which was in front of the king’s gate.
Mordecai 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 destruction of the Jews.
Mordecai also gave him a copy of the text of the decree which had been issued in Susa for the Jews destruction, so that he might show Esther and explain it to her, and order her to go in to the king to seek his favor and plead with him for [the lives of] her people.
Hathach came back and told Esther what Mordecai had said.
Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai, saying:
“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 to the inner court without being summoned, he has but one law, that he is to be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And as for me, I have not been summoned to come to the king for these [last] thirty days.”
So they told Mordecai what Esther had said.
Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.
For if you remain silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish [since you did not help when you had the chance]. And who knows whether you have attained royalty for such a time as this [and for this very purpose]?”
Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
“Go, gather all the Jews that are present in Susa, and observe a fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids also will fast in the same way. Then I will go in to [see] the king [without being summoned], which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
So Mordecai went away and did exactly as Esther had commanded him.
It seemed as if the whole nation would suddenly be cut off to satisfy the hatred of Haman, and Mordecai knew that he had been the cause of the plot. Esther was evidently living in close sympathy with her uncle, though now separated from him. In reply to the demand that she should hazard her life for the people, there was at first a natural reluctance. Was her love for her people greater than her love for herself? In her resolve there was surely something of the great love of Christ. We may be quite sure that God will carry out His plans-with us, if possible; if not, in spite of us, to our utter loss. We should look upon our position as a sacred trust to be used for others. We are created for good works, which God hath prepared for us to walk in. There can be no presumption in action which is preceded by prayer and heart-searching.
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