Esther 4:2

_AND CAME EVEN BEFORE THE KING'S GATE: FOR NONE MIGHT ENTER INTO THE KING'S GATE CLOTHED WITH SACKCLOTH._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-4 Mordecai avowed his relation to the Jews. Public calamities, that oppress the church of God, should affect our hearts more than any private affliction, and it is peculiarly distressing to occasion sufferings to others. God will keep those that are exposed to evil by the tenderness of their consciences....

Verse Esther 4:2. _BEFORE THE KING'S GATE_] He could not enter into the gate, of the place where the officers waited, because he was in the habit of a mourner; for this would have been contrary to law....

NONE MIGHT ENTER INTO THE KING’S GATE CLOTHED WITH SACKCLOTH - This law is not elsewhere mentioned; but its principle - that nothing of evil omen is to be obtruded on the monarch - has been recognized throughout the East in all ages....

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

AND CAME EVEN BEFORE THE KING'S GATE,.... Or court, that Esther might if possible be made acquainted with this dreadful calamity coming upon her people: FOR NONE MIGHT ENTER INTO THE KING'S GATE CLOTHED WITH SACKCLOTH: or appear in such a dress at court, where nothing was admitted to damp the pleasures of it....

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...

EVEN. as far as....

Esther 4:1-3. Dismay of Mordecai and the Jews Mordecai not only shares with the other dwellers in Susa the knowledge of the impending calamity, but also has obtained (Esther 4:7) information as to the nature of the transactions between the king and Haman. He exhibits the usual Oriental tokens of grief and horror....