Esther - Lesson 4

• Let's begin with a review:

• Chapter 1 of Esther introduces King Ahasuerus as a king over the Persian empire around 484-481 BCE ruling from the capital city of Susa.

  • This was a time the empire was preparing to go to war with the Greeks.

  • The second part of chapter 1 unveils Queen Vashti’s refusal of the command from King Ahasuerus to come display her royal crown and her beauty, and how an edict was brought by the 7 advisors to the King for the disgrace brought upon the King and kingdom.

• In Chapter 2 we were introduced to Esther and Mordecai as the search for a new queen was carried out. Esther is crowned queen and Mordecai saves the life of the king.

• Chapter 3 introduces Haman, who is elevated by king Ahasuerus, and shunned by Mordecai, and displays he is the enemy of the Jews with intensions to exterminate them from the kingdom.

Esth. 4:1 When Mordecai learned all 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.
Esth. 4:2 He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.
Esth. 4:3 In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

• In verse 1 we are not told how long after the edict had been issued that Mordecai learned about the details of the edict but we can assume it did not take long.

• The tearing of clothes and replacing them with sackcloth is an outward sign of intense inward mourning demonstrated throughout the scriptures. Two examples: Genesis 37:34, Matthew 11:20-21:

Gen. 37:34 So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.

Matt. 11:20 Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.
Matt. 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

• The putting on of sackcloth and asked is a sign of intense mourning in some cases for the death of someone but also where a repented heart is displayed.

• In verse 2 Mordecai expressed his grief publicly but refrained from venturing beyond the king’s gate.

  • There was a clear understanding this expression of grief was not to enter in or pass through the king’s gate because it was a sign of mourning and in this culture could also be a sign of discontent. The king was not to be subjected to these displays.

  • We see this was true as well in Nehemiah 2:1-4:

Neh. 2:1  And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
Neh. 2:2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
Neh. 2:3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?”
Neh. 2:4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.

• As a servant to the king, it was not acceptable to demonstrate any negative personal emotion. The focus was to be on the service to the king alone. If there was anything dissatisfying it could potentially reflect something negative about the king.

• In Esther verse 3 the expression displayed to the command and decree from the king in the Jewish communities also brought mourning with fasting, weeping and wailing as well as many of them lay on sackcloth and ashes.

  • They did not wear the sackcloth and ashes but lay on them, again to express their intense emotions publicly displayed. Also seen in Nehemiah 1:4, Daniel 9:3:

Neh. 1:4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Dan. 9:3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

• There is no specific mention of prayer in the narrative of Esther but it would seem prayer often accompanied fasting.

  • One of the reasons the detail of praying might be missing in this narrative could be the question of who the prayer was to and the book of Esther has nothing referencing the Jews God. (more to come)

Esth. 4:4 Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.
Esth. 4:5 Then 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 was and why it was.
Esth. 4:6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king’s gate.
Esth. 4:7 Mordecai told him all 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.
Esth. 4:8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people.

• In Esther verse 4 we understand Esther’s maidens and eunuchs tell her what Mordecai is seen doing.

  • There is no indication the maidens or the eunuchs understand why Mordecai is mourning.

  • Esther does not have understanding yet of why Mordecai is grieving publicly just that he is grieving. She does not need to know why just that he is in pain and displaying that publicly.

  • Esther responds to the news of Mordecai’s public mourning as described as writhes in great anguish.

• When we know someone is in pain we often grieve with them and for them. We don’t need to know all the details of someone’s situation, only that they are in pain.

• Esther tries to bring comfort to Mordecai by sending him garments so he can remove the sackcloth.

  • As long as Mordecai is in sackcloth he can’t come close to the citadel.

  • Esther would have no direct way to communicate with Mordecai.

  • Mordecai will not accept the garments to replace his sackcloth.

• In verse 5 since Mordecai can’t come to Esther she sends some to Mordecai.

  • The person Esther chooses to send to Mordecai is Hathach and we learn he is the king’s eunuch appointed to attend Esther.

  • Hathach is to learn what Mordecai was doing and why he was doing it.

  • Clearly Esther does not know about the edict and the command from the king.

• Verse 6 clarifies that Hathach finds Mordecai in the city square located in front of the king’s gate.

• Verse 7 reveals Mordecai explains to Hathach all that has happened to him and how much Haman had promised to pay the king for the annihilation of the Jews.

• We do not know how Mordecai knew of these details concerning the conversation the king and Haman had. This is another reason to believe Mordecai held an important position in the king’s court.

• In verse 8 Mordecai provides Hathach a copy of the edict detailing the intent to destroy the Jews.

  • The copy of the edict was to be shown to Esther with the specific intent for Mordecai to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people.

    • This is not a request from Mordecai to Esther but an order.

    • She is to beg for the life of her people.

• Mordecai is not making a request but gives an order to the queen, his daughter.

  • Not a small detail to be overlooked.

  • Mordecai tells Esther to go to the king and implore his favor.

  • Mordecai now asks Esther to specially ask the king to spare the Jews which are Esther’s people and in so doing Esther is being told to let the king know she is a Jew.

Esth. 4:9 Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther.
Esth. 4:10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai:
Esth. 4:11 “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 to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but 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.”
Esth. 4:12 They related Esther’s words to Mordecai.

• Verse 9 simply clarifies that Hathach came back to Esther and revealed everything to her as Mordecai had directed.

• After Esther understands the circumstances she orders Hathach in verse 10 to make a reply to Mordecai.

• Verse 11 describes what Esther knew to be true and that included all the king’s servant and people of the king’s provinces, “that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live.”

• Mordecai would also know this to be true.

• The second detail Esther gives to Mordecai may be the reason for the message she desires to give to him.

  • If Mordecai knew this to be true he may have been hoping Esther would have an audience with the king because he had been regularly summoning her to come to him.

  • Esther clarifies to Mordecai that the king had not summoned her for the past thirty days.

• Esther did not know when she would see the king under the ordinary circumstances.

• There was no regular way to request an audience with the king, the only way someone got to see the king was if he summoned them.

  • The only way forward for Esther to do as Mordecai was ordering her was to risk her life.

• In verse 12 the pronoun used to describe those who took Esther’s words to Mordecai is ‘they’.

• The original group assigned with communication to Mordecai were Esther’s maidens and eunuchs, probably Hathach was added to the group because he was of higher rank, being the king’s eunuch.

• Keep in mind the more people aware of this communication between Esther and Mordecai the higher probability the information may become known to Haman.

Esth. 4:13 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.
Esth. 4:14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance 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?”
Esth. 4:15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
Esth. 4:16 “Go, assemble 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 maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
Esth. 4:17 So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.

• Verse 13 crystalizes the truth with Mordecai’s bold response to Esther. He clarifies she may be the queen living in the palace but as a Jew she will be subject to the same fate as all the Jews in the kingdom.

• The edict has been signed and it cannot be amended or rescinded.

• In verse 14 Mordecai demonstrates an amazing truth he lives by and believes with all his heart and that is God will protect the Jews from extermination.

• Esther can make a decision to remain silent on this issue and not be the one to bring this to the attention of the king.

  • If Esther makes this decision Mordecai says she and her father’s house will perish.

• Mordecai is Esther’s uncle and he is part of Esther’s father’s house.

  • If Esther remains silent her immediate family will perish.

• The Jews in Susa would most likely not survive the destruction as Haman would take special effort to destroy those Jews first.

  • Secondly Haman hates Mordecai and he will make every effort to destroy him and his immediate family.

    • This would be very personal and targeted.

• There is a clear sense of urgency in Mordecai’s request for Esther to take immediate action.

  • Though the enforcement of the edict is not to take place for 11 months Mordecai asks Esther to act now.

  • The longer Haman has to plan and put in place the necessary strategies to carry out his plan the more difficult it will be to stop the immense destruction.

  • The more time allowed to Haman the more ways he will find to keep information from coming before the king.

    • Haman is a very cunning and powerful man.

• Esther can choose to stay silent and there will be deadly consequences for that decision to Esther and her family but ultimately God will bring relief and deliverance to the Jewish people it will just come from another place and not Esther.

• Mordecai clearly believes God has a special plan for His people and He will protect them as a people.

  • This does not mean there will not be significant destruction brought to the Jews just they will not cease to exist as a people, God’s people.

• The Jews had just celebrated the Passover, which is a recognition of what God had done in their history, providing them a miraculous deliverance for His purposes.

• Even though the word God is not formally written in the book of Esther, this would be one of the areas where a clear reference to God is being made.

• Mordecai reminds Esther she has a privileged place in this kingdom as royalty.

  • This was not a coincidence, it was God ordained.

  • Mordecai’s conclusion is that her position may have been obtained for this very purpose at this precise time in history.

• Verse 15 simply states Esther tells this group to reply to Mordecai.

• Verse 16 is Esther’s request for Mordecai to assemble all the Jews in Susa and to ask them to fast for her three days and nights and this fast was to be from both food and water.

• There are many unspoken elements we have discovered in this narrative of Esther but we know to be true, like the understanding Ahasuerus was preparing for the Greek campaign during the events of chapter one.

  • Here is another opportunity to know what else would be happening during this dedicated time of fasting and that would be prayers going before the throne of God.

• The purpose of fasting was to bring a total focus of the person to commune with God.

  • Remove all distractions in the person’s life so they are fully devoted to speaking to the Father.

Neh. 1:4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Psa. 35:13  But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting,
And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.

• Esther says she and her maidens will fast in the same way.

  • This might be noticed by those residing in the palace but there are ways to fast without bringing attention to oneself.

• Christ specially addresses the issue of drawing attention to oneself when fasting in Matthew 6:16-21:

Matt. 6:16  “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Matt. 6:17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face
Matt. 6:18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Matt. 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Matt. 6:20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
Matt. 6:21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

• Matthew 6 discusses giving, praying and fasting as all things to be done with a heart focused on God and not to do these things to bring attention to ourselves when we do these things.

• It will be those things done in the will of God and with sincerity of heart God will reward.

  • If our heart is about how things will be perceived by other men than God says you will receive that attention on earth but it will not receive any heavenly reward.

• In Esther 4 when the three days and nights of fasting have been completed Esther commits she will got to the king and understands this is not allowed according to the law of the kingdom. Since it is unlawful, she is willing to die if that is the outcome.

  • Esther is willing giving up her earthly life, a life lived as a queen.

  • Esther has an eternal focus on eternity as we all should maintain each day.

• Verse 17 concludes with Mordecai going away from the public square and doing what Esther had commanded him to do.

• Mordecai leaves the meeting with those who have brought him this message from his daughter Esther.

  • A daughter he has asked to risk her life for him and for the Jews.

  • He has no idea what the end of this story is going to be as he leaves. He may never see his daughter again.

• Mordecai does leave knowing one thing for sure as he said, ‘relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place’.

• He knows God will save the Jewish people as a people for Himself, he does not know how many may die when the edict is to be carried out but he knows the Jewish people will live on because he believed the word of God.

Deut. 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Deut. 7:7 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
Deut. 7:8 but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

• There are many who have witnessed this miracle over the course of human history.

• In the year 1899, Mark Twain penned his famous essay Concerning the Jews, which he later described as his “gem in the ocean.” He concluded with the following passage:

The Egyptian, the Babylonian and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

• How does understand this promise being kept to Israel speak to us today?

• Mordecai made it clear he believed the Jews would continue to exist and we know that is because God promised that and this would be known as the will of God.

  • Mordecai understood this promise but he also had an understanding of his responsibility to be called into action in the unfolding of this promise.

• Believers are to respond in the same way knowing we are saved by faith as a gift of God how are we to respond in our daily walk?

Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Eph. 2:9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Eph. 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Phil. 2:9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
Phil. 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Phil. 2:11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Phil. 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
Phil. 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

• Verses 9-11 display the promises that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Just as Mordecai knew the Jews were God’s people based on His promise of that from the scriptures.

• Mordecai knew he was still called to work out his salvation with his life.

  • Adopting Esther, bringing her to the king’s harem, sitting in the king’s gate, saving the king’s life, standing up to Haman and now asking Esther to risk her life for His people, fasting and praying before God.

• Verses 12-13 We are to obey and work out our salvation with fear and trembling:

  • We can do this because it is God who is at work in us.

  • It is God’s will for us.

  • Is God’s work.

  • And it is all for His good pleasure.

• What are we being asked to do for God in our lives?

• How are we to serve Him?

• How are we to be a Mordecai or an Esther in our world?

• More in-depth understanding of fasting for believers today can be found on the Verse by Verse Ministry International website.