June 5, 2025, Ester 4:1-17
4 When
Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put
on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried
out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went up to the
entrance of the king's gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king's gate
clothed in sackcloth. 3 And in every province,
wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning
among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of
them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When
Esther's young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply
distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his
sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then
Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to
attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it
was. 6 Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open
square of the city in front of the king's gate, 7 and
Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money
that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction
of the Jews. 8 Mordecai also gave him a copy
of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might
show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to
beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. 9 And
Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then
Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, 11 “All
the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man
or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being
called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to
whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me,
I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
12 And they
told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then
Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the
king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For
if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews
from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows
whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 15 Then
Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go,
gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do
not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will
also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the
law, and if I perish, I perish.” 17 Mordecai
then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
These verses describe the
despair the Jewish people are feeling after the decree that Hamen has sent for
their annihilation. Mordecia urged Queen Esther to speak to the king on their
behalf. After several appeals to Esther, she agrees to approach the king on
behalf of the Jews, thus risking her own safety.
The repeated thread
throughout these verses is one of courage, faith, bravery, prayer and fasting.
In our country we are seldom truly persecuted for our faith. Our forefathers
founded our nation on Christian beliefs. However, our current culture sometimes
threatens the truth as given through God’s Word.
How will we stand firm in
love to our loved ones, friends, coworkers and community as we share the truth
to truly transform?
Robin Adams
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