Esther 4:8

_ALSO HE GAVE HIM THE COPY OF THE WRITING OF THE DECREE THAT WAS GIVEN AT SHUSHAN TO DESTROY THEM, TO SHEW IT UNTO ESTHER, AND TO DECLARE IT UNTO HER, AND TO CHARGE HER THAT SHE SHOULD GO IN UNTO THE KING, TO MAKE SUPPLICATION UNTO HIM, AND TO MAKE REQUEST BEFORE HIM FOR HER PEOPLE._ Charge her that she should go in unto the king. This language is exceedingly strong; and as it can scarcely be supposed that Mordecai was still using authority over Esther as his adopted daughter, he must be considered as imploring rather than commanding her, in the name of her brethren, and in the name of her God, to make a direct appeal to the feelings of her royal husband....

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 4:8. _THAT SHE SHOULD GO IN UNTO THE KING_] The Greek adds, "Remember the time of your low estate, and in what manner you have been nourished, and carried in my arms; and that Haman, who is next to the king, has got a decree for our destruction. Pray, therefore, to the Lord, and plead with the king, that we may be delivered from death." But there is not a word of this either in the _Hebrew, Syriac_, or _Vulgate_....

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

ALSO HE GAVE HIM THE COPY OF THE WRITING OF THE DECREE THAT WAS GIVEN AT SHUSHAN TO DESTROY THEM,.... Which had now been published in the city; by which means Mordecai had had a sight of it, and had transcribed it; see Esther 3:14 TO SHOW IT UNTO ESTHER, AND TO DECLARE IT UNTO HER; what Haman intended against the people of the Jews; as the Targum adds: AND TO CHARGE HER; in his name; whose charges she had always regarded, both before and since she was queen; or in the name of God: THAT SHE SHOULD GO IN UNTO THE KING TO MAKE SUPPLICATION UNTO HIM, AND TO MAKE REQUEST BEFORE HIM FOR HER PEOPLE; signifying there was a necessity of doing it speedily, and of urging her request with great earnestness and importunity, since it was not the life of a single person, but the lives of a body of people, and her own, that lay at stake....

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...

Esther's grief and the communications between her and Mordecai 4. _came and told it her_ Although unaware, according to the story, of the queen's relationship to Mordecai, her attendants knew (see Esther 2:11) the importance which he attached to her welfare, and therefore they presumed that his mourning garb would bespeak her interest. _she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai_ so that he might come within the gate and tell her the cause of his distress. _but he received it not_ by this refusal indicating the dire nature of the calamity of which it was the symbol....

B. Crisis TEXT: Esther 4:4-9 4 And Esther's maidens and her chamberlains came and told it her; and the queen was exceedingly grieved: and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take his sackcloth from off him; but he received it not. 5 Then called Esther for Hathach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and charged him to go to Mordecai, to know what this was, and why it was. 6 So Hathach went forth to Mordecai unto the broad place of the city, which was before the king's gate. 7 And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. 8 Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in Shushan to destroy them, to show it unto Esther, and to declare

MORDECAI'S APPEAL TO ESTHER TO SAVE HER COUNTRYMEN 1. When Mordecai perceived] His position at the door of the palace (href='190 2:21'>Est 2:21) would enable him to obtain early intelligence....