Dusk before the king’s gate: the wide square empty, one small figure in dark sackcloth seated far off at the foot of the gatehouse, under a calm evening sky

The Book of

Esther 4

One man in sackcloth at the gate. One queen who hasn’t been called in thirty days. And a law that kills anyone who goes in uninvited.

17 verses≈ 4 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

In this chapter

Where we are

1–2A new queenVashti out, Esther crowned
3The plotHaman buys a decree
4–5The riskEsther goes to the kingChapter 4
6–7The turnA sleepless night, a gallows
8–9OverturnedA second decree, and Purim
10MordecaiSecond to the king

Mordecai Appeals to Esther

In a street of Susa, Mordecai in torn clothes and sackcloth walks with his arms lifted, crying aloud, as people draw aside to stare

When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.

0:17

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

At dusk in a small mud-brick village, a Jewish family sits on the ground in sackcloth, a sealed scroll closed in an old man’s lap

In every province to which the king’s command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Question

Quick question

Mordecai took his grief as near the palace as he could.

How far could Mordecai go in his sackcloth?

So Hathach went back and relayed Mordecai’s response to Esther.

Then Esther spoke to Hathach and instructed him to tell Mordecai,

Esther

“All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”

Mordecai

When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai, he sent back to her this reply: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews.

Esther 4:14

Reflect

Who knows?

Mordecai did not say he knew. He said “who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Where has God put you that you have been treating as an accident? What might it cost you to speak there?

At night in a plain side room, Esther sits upright on a low stool beside an untouched bowl and a clay lamp, one veiled maid in the doorway behind her

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do.

After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

So Mordecai went and did all that Esther had instructed him.

Between two laws

Whiteboard

Stay silent and die with her people, or go in and perhaps die alone. Mordecai gives her no promise. He gives her a question, and she answers it.

Pray

Courage where we are

Ask God for courage in the place He has put you. Pray for those who stand to lose by speaking. Pray for God’s people under threat in the world today, that He would keep them as He kept His people then. And ask Him to help you trust Him when you cannot see the end.

You’ve experienced

Esther 4

0 of 10 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Esther 4:14

or swipe left