Esther 4:15,16

Fast for me, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day.

Esther had made up her mind. She would intrude herself upon the king and ask the salvation of her race, even if she perished. Conscious of her danger in breaking the law, filled with anxiety over the effect of confessing that she belonged to. captive race, she asks. rigid and solemn fast for three days, accompanied by prayer in her behalf, and proposes to keep the fast herself with her maidens. She felt that her success depended upon the favor of God and shows that she had profound faith in prayer. At the close of the fast she would leave all to God, would seek the king's presence, and would succeed or die. There is something peculiarly pathetic in her words, "And so will. go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if. perish,. perish."