Esther 4:14

_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?_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

5-17 We are prone to shrink from services that are attended with peril or loss. But when the cause of Christ and his people demand it, we must take up our cross, and follow him. When Christians are disposed to consult their own ease or safety, rather than the public good, they should be blamed. The law was express, all knew it. It is not thus in the court of the King of kings: to the footstool of his throne of grace we may always come boldly, and may be sure of an answer of peace to the prayer of faith. We are welcome, even into the holiest, through the blood of Jesus. Providence so ordered it, that, just then, the king's affections had cooled toward Esther; her faith and courage thereby were the more tried; and God's goodness in the favour she now found with the king, thereby shone the brighter. Haman no doubt did what he could to set the king against her. Mordecai suggests, that it wa...

Verse Esther 4:14. Then _SHALL THERE ENLARGEMENT AND DELIVERANCE ARISE_] He had a confidence that deliverance would come by some means; and he thought that _Esther_ would be the most likely; and that, if she did not use the influence which her providential station gave her, she would be highly culpable. _AND WHO KNOWETH WHETHER THOU ART COME_] As if he had said, "Is it likely that Divine providence would have so distinguished thee, and raised thee from a state of abject obscurity, merely for _thy_ _own sake_? Must it not have been on some _public account_! Did not _he_ see what was coming? and has he not put thee in the place where thou mayest counteract one of the most ruinous purposes ever formed?" Is there a human being who has not some particular station by an especial providence, at some particular time, in which he can be of some

FROM ANOTHER PLACE - i. e. “from some other quarter.” Mordecai probably concluded from the prophetic Scriptures that God would NOT allow His people to be destroyed before His purposes with respect to them were accomplished, and was therefore satisfied that deliverance would arise from one quarter or another. THOU AND THY FATHER’S HOUSE SHALL BE DESTROYED - i. e. “a divine vengeance will overtake thee and thine, if thou neglectest thy plain duty.” Though the name of God is not contained in the Book of Esther, there is in this verse a distinct, tacit allusion to God’s promises, and to the direction of human events by Divine Providence....

EXPOSITION MOURNING OF MORDECAI, AND OF THE JEWS GENERALLY, ON HEARING OF THE DECREE (Esther 4:1 Esther 4:1). Haman had no doubt kept his intentions secret until the king's consent to them was not only granted, but placed beyond his power to recall The Jews first heard of the terrible blow impending over them by the publication of the edict. Then they became acquainted with it quickly enough. The edict was for a while the talk of the town. Placarded openly in some conspicuous and frequented place, every loiterer read it, every gossip spoke of it, every one whom it threatened could

FOR IF THOU ALTOGETHER HOLDEST THY PEACE AT THIS TIME,.... And will not speak to the king in favour of the Jews, because of the danger she would be exposed to in doing it: THEN SHALL THERE ENLARGEMENT AND DELIVERANCE ARISE TO THE JEWS FROM ANOTHER PLACE; Mordecai seemed confident of it, that by some means or another the Jews would be delivered; if not through the intercession of Esther, yet from some other quarter, or by some other hand: BUT THOU AND THY FATHER'S HOUSE SHALL BE DESTROYED; for such neglect of the people of God when in distress, want of pity to them, and not exerting herself as she might in their behalf; so that seeing she and her family must perish, it was better to perish in a good cause than in a bad one: AND WHO KNOWETH WHETHER THOU ART COME TO THE KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS? he intimates that he believed that the providence of God had raised her to that dignit...

THE CONSTERNATION OF THE JEWS -- MORDECAI AND ESTHER CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The great lamentations of the Jews (Esther 4:1)_ 2. Esther's discovery (Esther 4:4) 3. Esther's helplessness (Esther 4:10) 4. Mordecai's answer (Esther 4:13) 5. Esther's decision (Esther 4:15) Esther 4:1. When Mordecai heard of what had been done and the plan to exterminate his people became known to him he rent his clothes. This and the putting on of sackcloth and

ESTHER 4. THE DISMAY OF THE JEWS. MORDECAI OVERCOMES ESTHER'S RELUCTANCE TO INTERCEDE WITH THE KING. And now the gloom spreads. At this point, the LXX has a pathetic message from Mordecai to his niece, the queen. Surely the original had a passage of this kind: here the Heb. scribes have probably excised something that was very fitting because it spoke of Yahweh's omnipotence and His certain care for Israel. Such a passage would be true to Israelitish character, as we know it, from the time of Amos down to Jesus. The omission is unnatural, and is therefore the work of an editing hand. Mordecai cries, O Esther, pray thou too to Yahweh for help, and plead with thy husband to save us. Mordecai says that Providence has set her in the queenly place to the end that she may now do nobly and stay the disaster; therefore she must undertake the sacred, though dangerous, task. It is probable, from t...

THEN SHALL ENLARGEMENT... ARISE.. FROM ANOTHER PLACE. Mordecai's message conveys the idea that God, in his providence, has exalted Esther and placed her near the king, in order to be the deliverer of her imperiled people. If she shall prove faithless to her high trust and shrink from the responsibility God will find some other way for their deliverance, for they have not yet accomplished their destiny, but Esther and her father's house, including Mordecai, her cousin, but father by adoption, shall be destroyed. Mordecai knew well that he was destined to death by Haman, his great enemy, and that he must die unless his wicked schemes were thwarted. He predicts that Esther will be involved in his own calamity because she did not make the effort in her power to save her race. Though she was queen, and he only. servant of the king, he speaks with all the freedom of. father....

ENLARGEMENT. respite. WHO KNOWETH... ? Note the Figure of speech _Erotesis_ (App-6), for emphasis. Used here of hope and trust in God and His overruling grace....