Esther 4
Hello!
I hope you all had a great week! Here, in my hometown, we had our yearly fall festival this last a week. It was a lot of fun and I hope everyone was able to eat all the amazing foods. During that week, I hope you were able to find time to read through Esther 3. This week we will be going through Esther 4. If you haven’t read through it, you can click on the link and read it here, (Esther 4).
Theme: We should have trust and hope in God’s hidden hand to bring good and defeat evil, even when His acts are not immediately apparent.
Key Point: Remember that God is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, but we do see God’s hand working through out the story.
Recap: King Xerxes promoted Haman as the highest official. Due to this, all the other officials would kneel down to show respect. Mordecai worked at the king’s gate and when Haman would come by, Mordecai would refuse to kneel down. This became a problem for Haman. Haman also found out that Mordecai was Jew and Haman comes from a long line of family that hates the Jews. Due to this, Haman went to the King and convinced him that there is a group of people who are disobeying his law and they need to be taken care of. Haman did not tell King Xerxes the whole truth and the king gave Haman the signet ring and the power to make whatever law he wanted. Haman put out a decree that all Jews in the nation would be killed.
Looking back at Chapter 3, it ends with Haman and King Xerxes having drinks to celebrate what has been done. Now in Chapter 4, it starts off with Mordecai finding out about the decree. He tore off his clothes, wore a sackcloth, and put ashes on himself. In their culture, this was normal for someone who was grieving. Mordecai went into the city and started to cry loudly with bitterness. He made it known what he was grieving for. We know that this is the outcome of Mordecai not bowing down to Haman. He didn’t want to give in and wanted to stay true to his faith. While he was out in the city, many jews followed his lead and changed into sackcloth and ashes, and began weeping.
Of course, this was causing talk and commotion. Esther’s maids and eunuchs came to her and express their concern about her cousin Mordecai. She was not aware of the decree or why he was acting this way. With her living in the palace, and separate of the King, she probably doesn’t get to hear a whole lot of news that is happening until a while after. While still not knowing what is happening with her cousin, she sent him clothes but he rejected them. In that culture we know that people could not enter into the king’s gate without the proper clothing attire. We see Esther caring for her cousin and looking out for his safety.
Since Mordecai rejected the clothes that Esther sent him, she sent Hathak to find Mordecai. Hathak is one of the king’s eunuchs who was assigned to look after Esther. Hathak found Mordecai and Mordecai told him everything about what happened with Haman and the king. Mordecai gave Hathak the scroll with the decree and told him to give it to Esther. He also told him to tell Esther to go to the king and explain and beg for mercy for her people.
Esther read the decree and told Hathak to go back to Mordecai and tell him this; there is a law that if any man or woman approaches the king in the palace without being asked to meet with him, they would be put to death. If the king extends the gold scepter to you, then your life is spared. Esther expresses that she hasn’t even seen the king in 30 days. In the Persia culture, the queen does not hold an intimate role to the king. We see this in verse Esther 4:11. Knowing what we know about King Xerxes, he gets influenced very easily. We saw it in Chapter 1 when he was intoxicated with Queen Vashti. We see is when he listened to the people in his palace to gather all the young beautiful women. We see it now when Haman convinced him to get rid of those who were disobeying the law. It is very understandable to see why Esther is hesitant to break the law of meeting with him without being summoned. I think this shows the risk it would take to listen to Mordecai.
Mordecai hears from Hathak what Esther said in response and he told Hathak to tell her more. He says, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you along of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise and from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14 NIV). This is probably the most famous part of the Book of Esther. I find it so cool to be able to read something I have heard for years and know now what it means in its context. I am not sure for you, but for me, it makes that passage more powerful knowing what situation Esther is in. In the Enduring Word, they state that Mordecai’s trust was in God and His faithfulness. He knew that God had a plan and would not let his people down. He reminded Esther that it’s her faith that matters.
Esther replied back to Mordecai instructing him to gather all the Jews in Susa, and fast, for 3 days. She specifically states to not eat or drink night or day for the 3 days. She stated that she and her attendants will fast as well. At the end of the 3 days, she will go to the King and if she perish, then she perishes. Mordecai listened to Esther and did what she instructed.
I really enjoy this chapter in Esther. It reminds us that we are put in a place for a reason. We may not know it at the time but there are events that lead up to where God is calling you to be. I really like how The Enduring Word puts it, “God promotes us or puts us in a place for a reason, and we need the courage and wisdom to see that reason and to walk in it.”
I encourage you to pray on your current life situation. Your work position, your living situation, your friendships, leadership roles, etc. We should not be praying for God to promote us or put us in a different position when we should be praying for Him to use us in the current/present situation. How can we serve The Lord in our current everyday life. I challenge those who are second guessing if this is where you are meant to be at, can you map out why God put you in this current position? How can you change your mindset on thinking how God can use you right now vs when he is going to use you?
Thank you all for going over Chapter 4 with me! I am excited to find out next week how the fasting went and what happens next! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out so we can go through it together. Continue praying for what you can learn from the Book of Esther.
Created for a purpose.
