Esther 4

1-17 Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

1-3 When Mordecai learns of the edict, he dresses in sackcloth and ashes and goes through the city and up to the king’s gate, wailing, as do the other Jews, with fasting and weeping.

4 Esther hears of it and sends clothes to Mordecai, which he refuses.

5-8 Then she sends Hathach, a eunuch, to Mordecai, who tells Hathach of Haman’s bribe, gives him a copy of the edict, and tells him to persuade Esther to go before the king on behalf of her people.

9-11 She replies through Hathach that the king has not asked for her for 30 days, and if she goes before him without being asked, she risks being put to death.

12-14 Mordecai replies that if she does not go before the king, deliverance would come from somewhere else, but in the meantime she and her family could die. And “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” Even though God’s name is not mentioned in this book, Mordecai apparently believed that his people’s destiny was to survive, not be annihilated. In saying Esther may have been put in her position for a reason, he obviously believed in some form of providential care.

15-17 Esther asks Mordecai to gather the people and fast for 3 days and nights (no food or drink), and she and her servants will do the same. She will go before the king, and “If I perish, I perish.” It’s interesting that prayer is not mentioned, though it may be implied.