Mordecai Mourns in Sackcloth
Study note
Tearing clothes, wearing rough sackcloth, and putting ashes on one's head were ancient ways of showing extreme grief. No one wearing sackcloth was allowed to enter the king's gate, so Mordecai could only go as far as the entrance.
1 Mordecai found out what had been ordered. He ripped his clothes. He put on rough cloth and ashes. He walked into the center of the city, crying out in pain. 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 He went all the way to the king's gate but could not go through it. No one wearing sackcloth was allowed to enter. And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.
3 In every province where the king's decree arrived, the Jewish communities erupted in grief. People fasted, wept, and wailed. Many threw themselves on the ground in sackcloth and ashes. 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 Plot
Study note
Esther did not yet know about the decree. Since she was in the women's quarters of the palace, she had to communicate with Mordecai through a servant named Hatach.
4 When Esther's maids and servants brought her the news about Mordecai, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent fresh clothes for him to replace the sackcloth, but he refused to accept them. 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 Esther called for Hatach, one of the king's servants who waited on her. She sent him to Mordecai to find out what was going on and why. 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 Hatach found Mordecai in the public square near the king's gate. So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king's gate.
7 Mordecai told him the whole story and every detail about what had happened. He even told him the exact amount of money Haman had offered to pay the king to destroy the Jews. 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 Mordecai also gave Hatach a copy of the order. It had been posted in Susa. It called for all Jews to be killed. He told Hatach to show it to Esther. He said to explain it all. He urged her to go before the king. She must beg for mercy for her people. 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 Hatach returned to Esther and delivered Mordecai's full message. And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.
Esther's Brave Decision
Study note
In the Persian court, anyone who approached the king without being called could be put to death -- unless the king held out his golden scepter. Esther had not been called to see the king for thirty days. Mordecai's famous words -- 'who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this' -- suggest that a greater purpose is at work, even though the book never mentions God by name.
10 Esther then told Hatach to carry this message back to Mordecai: Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai;
11 "Everyone in the kingdom -- servants and citizens alike -- knows there is a strict law: anyone who approaches the king in his inner court without being summoned will be executed. The only exception is if the king extends his golden scepter to spare that person's life. And the king has not called for me in thirty days." 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 When Mordecai got Esther's message, And they told to Mordecai Esther's words.
13 He sent back this reply. "Do not fool yourself. You live in the king's palace. But that will not save you. You will not be the one Jew who gets away." 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 "If you stay silent right now, rescue and protection for the Jewish people will come from somewhere else. But you and your father's entire family line will be wiped out. And who knows? Maybe you were placed in this royal position for exactly this moment." 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 Esther sent this reply back to Mordecai: Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,
16 "Go and gather every Jew in Susa together. Fast for my sake -- do not eat or drink anything for three full days, day or night. My maids and I will do the same. After that, I will go to the king, even though the law says I should not. And if I die, then I die." 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 Mordecai left and did everything Esther had asked. So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.