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Esther 4

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Mordecai Mourns the Decree 1–3

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; ​
2
And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. ​
3
And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Esther Learns of the Crisis 4–12

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. ​
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.
6
So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king's gate.
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.
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. ​
9
And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.
10
Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai;
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. ​
12
And they told to Mordecai Esther's words.

Mordecai Challenges Esther 13–15

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. ​
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? ​
15
Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

Esther's Resolve and Call for Fasting 16–17

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

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Esther 4

Verse 1

sackcloth with ashes — Saq, a coarse mesh of hair, and epher, ashes, are the dress of grief, as in Daniel's prayer 'with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes' (Dan 9:3) and Jonah 3:6, where the king of Nineveh 'sat in ashes'. He 'cried with a loud and a bitter cry', and the verb is za'aq; the related noun is the 'cry' that goes with the fastings of Purim (9:31).

Verse 2

clothed with sackcloth — Mordecai had been sitting 'in the king's gate' (2:21). Now he comes only 'before' it, because no one in mourning dress might enter. His grief is the first of many: when the decree arrived, there was 'great mourning among the Jews' in every province (v.3).

Verse 4

he received it not — Esther's maids and chamberlains (saris) report his state, and she is 'exceedingly grieved'. She sends clothing to 'take away his sackcloth', but Mordecai will not take it. She then sends Hatach 'to know what it was, and why it was' (v.5), so that she may learn what has caused his grief.

Verse 8

the copy of the writing — Parshegen, a copy or transcript, a word found only here and in Esth 3:14; 8:13 and Ezra 7:11. Mordecai gives Esther the decree so that she can see it herself, and charges her to 'make supplication' (chanan, to seek favour), the verb she uses when she falls at the king's feet in 8:3.

Verse 11

the golden sceptre — No one might come into the king's 'inner court' unsummoned on pain of death, 'except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre'. Esther has not been called 'these thirty days'. The sceptre is held out to her in 5:2, where she 'obtained favour in his sight', and again in 8:4.

Verse 13

Think not with thyself — Damah, to imagine or suppose. Mordecai answers the fear in v.11 by denying that the palace is a refuge: Esther has hidden her people (2:10), but the decree covers 'all the Jews'. 'Escape' is malat, the verb of 'Escape for thy life' spoken to Lot (Gen 19:17).

Verse 14

for such a time as this — 'Enlargement' (revach, room) and 'deliverance' (hatstsalah) are promised 'from another place', and hatstsalah occurs nowhere else in Scripture. The book never names God, yet Mordecai speaks as one sure of rescue. His 'who knoweth' echoes Joel 2:14, and Joseph's word, 'God did send me before you to preserve life' (Gen 45:5).

Verse 16

if I perish, I perish — Tsum, to fast, here 'neither eat nor drink three days, night or day'. Esther asks the Jews of Shushan to join her, as Ezra's company 'fasted and besought our God' (Ezra 8:23). She goes in 'on the third day' (5:1). Jacob spoke in the same resignation: 'If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved' (Gen 43:14).