Esther 4:3

_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 4:3. _FASTING, AND WEEPING, AND WAILING_] How astonishing, that in all this there is not the slightest intimation given _of_ _praying to God_!...

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 IN EVERY PROVINCE WHITHERSOEVER THE KING'S COMMANDMENT AND HIS DECREE CAME,.... For destroying the Jews on such a day, in every place where they were to be found: THERE WAS GREAT MOURNING AMONG THE JEWS, AND WEEPING, AND WAILING; which continued all day: AND MANY LAY IN SACKCLOTH AND ASHES: all night; made use of no other bed to lie on, nor clothes to cover them with....

AND MANY LAY Hebrew, sackcloth and ashes were laid under many. (Isaiah 58:5); (Daniel 9:3)....

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...

COMMANDMENTS WORD. See note on Esther 1:12. DECREE. Imperial decree. Hebrew. _dath_. See notes on Esther 1:8; Esther 2:8. AND. Note the Figure of speech _Polysyndeton_ (App-6), to emphasize the greatness and universality of the mourning. FASTING, &C. These were the accompaniments of true repentance....

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....