Estherchapter 4
17 verses · KJVEsther book hub →
Key verse
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?
It stands in scene B of the chapter, verses 9 to 14.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Mordecai rends his clothes, puts on sackcloth with ashes, and goes out into the midst of the city crying with a loud and bitter cry; in every province there is great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and wailing. Esther sends Hathach; Mordecai returns a copy of the decree and charges her to go in to the king. She answers with the law of the inner court (death for anyone unsummoned, unless the golden sceptre is held out) and she has not been called these thirty days. Mordecai's reply is the hinge of the book: deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place, 'and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?' (4:14). She calls a three-day fast: 'and if I perish, I perish.'
Context
History · Mordecai · Esther overview
Where the chapter sits
Esther 4 falls in The queen and the plot (chapters 1–4). Vashti deposed; Esther chosen; Mordecai uncovers the assassination plot; Haman's rise and his genocidal edict; ‘for such a time as this.’
For such a time as this. Mordecai's appeal; Esther's resolve; ‘if I perish, I perish.’
After it: The reversal, chapters 5–7.
The whole shape of Esther→The world behind this chapter
Esther 4The history
Public mourning in that world was loud and physical: the robe torn, rough sackcloth worn against the skin, ashes on the head, wailing in the street. It was not private grief but a signal, meant to be seen. And a Persian palace would not tolerate it, a man in sackcloth could not pass the gate, because the king's presence was supposed to be untouched by anything ugly.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
That single rule sets up the whole chapter. Mordecai cannot come in; Esther cannot come out; everything has to travel through a eunuch carrying words and a copy of the decree back and forth across a courtyard.
The law Esther describes is documented. No one approached the Persian king in the inner court uninvited, on pain of death, unless he extended the golden sceptre. Carved reliefs from Persepolis show the enthroned king holding a long staff with an official bowing before him, hand raised to his lips. The danger was real even for a queen, especially a queen who, as she says, had not been summoned in thirty days.
Her answer is a three-day total fast, day and night, by every Jew in Susa. Jewish fasting normally ran from dawn to dusk; a full three-day abstention from food and water is extreme, the response of people who expect to die. The book never mentions prayer here, but no Jewish hearer would have imagined a fast without it.
What it meant to them
This is the chapter where the book stops being a court comedy. Mordecai's line, that deliverance will come from somewhere else if she stays silent, and who knows whether she came to the throne for such a time as this, puts the whole thing in one sentence: God's purpose does not depend on her, and her choice still matters completely.
Scattered Jews heard their own position in that. They were placed, without choosing it, in cities and courts not their own. The chapter says the placement is not an accident, and that safety bought by silence is not safety.
Sources cited
- Herodotus, The Histories
- Edwin M. Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
A. Sackcloth in the middle of the city, and a copy of the decree
1. (vv. 1-3)
a.cried with a loud and a bitter cry: Mordecai takes his grief public, sackcloth and ashes through the midst of the city, up to the king's gate and no further, for none might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth: the empire outlaws sorrow at its own door, and the detail is Persia in one sentence. In every province the Jews answer the decree with mourning, fasting, weeping and wailing, and the book names the fast without naming prayer beside it, its constant method of pointing at what it will not say. The bitter cry at the gate of power echoes Esau's at Gen 27:34 in its wording, a likeness the commentators note.
Esther 4:1, 1 voiceWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Esther 4:1
“Mordecai rent his clothes - He gave every demonstration of the most poignant and oppressive grief. Nor did he hide this from the city; and the Greek says that he uttered these words aloud: Αιρεται εθνος μηδεν ηδικηκος, A people are going to be destroyed, who have done no evil!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 4:2, 1 voice
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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 4:3, 2 voices
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!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 4:3
“Those who for want of confidence in God, and affection to their own land, has staid in the land of their captivity, when Cyrus gave them liberty to be gone, now perhaps repented of their folly, and wished, when it was too late, that they had complied with the call of God. Esther the queen, upon a general intimation of the trouble Mordecai was in, was exceedingly grieved,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 4-6)
a.she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai: Esther's first response is clothing, an attempt to dress the grief away before she knows its cause, and he received it not: comfort is refused until the truth is faced. The queen must learn of her own people's death sentence through Hatach, a court chamberlain, because the palace has sealed her off from the city's news. The go-between traffic of these verses is the book's picture of how insulated power stays ignorant.
Esther 4:4, 1 voice
Esther 4:4
“Then was the queen . . . grieved; and . . . sent raiment to . . . Mordecai--Her object in doing so was either to qualify him for resuming his former office, or else, perhaps, of fitting him to come near enough to the palace to inform her of the cause of such sudden and extreme distress.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Esther 4:5, 2 voices
Esther 4:5
“Then called Esther for Hatach - This eunuch the king had appointed to wait upon her, partly, as is still the case in the East, to serve her, and partly, to observe her conduct; for no despot is ever exempt from a twofold torture, jealousy and suspicion.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 4:5
“When the commission is executed, the subaltern communicates it to the superintendent, by whom it is delivered to the queen. This chief eunuch, usually an old man who has recommended himself by a long course of faithful service, is always appointed by the king; but it is his interest, as well as his duty, to ingratiate himself with the queen also.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3. (vv. 7-8)
Esther 4:7-9
a.the sum of the money: Mordecai's case is documentary: the exact sum Haman promised the treasuries, and the copy of the writing of the decree, evidence handed through the intermediary so that Esther pleads from the text itself and not from rumor. The charge lands on its last words, to make request before him FOR HER PEOPLE, the first time in the book her people are named to her as hers. The secret of 2:10 is being called due.
Esther 4:8, 1 voice
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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
B. Who knows whether you have come for such a time as this?
2. (vv. 10-12)
a.gave him commandment unto Mordecai: Esther's answer states the law every servant and province knows: the inner court uncalled means death, except the king hold out the golden sceptre, and the excavated court at Shushan gives the scene its real floor. Her last clause is the confession that matters, I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days: the favor that won a crown at 2:17 may have cooled, and she is being asked to stake her life on it. The book lets her weakness stand in full before her courage answers it.
Esther 4:11, 2 voices
Esther 4:11
“The golden scepter - In all the numerous representations of Persian kings at Persepolis the monarch holds a long tapering staff (probably the scepter of Esther) in his right hand. It was death to intrude on the privacy of the Persian king uninvited.”
Esther 4:11
“It is not thus in the court of the King of kings; to the footstool of his throne of grace we may at any time come boldly, and may be sure of an answer of peace to the prayer of faith. We are welcome, not only into the inner court, but even into the holiest, through the blood of Jesus.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3. (vv. 13-14)
a.Think not with thyself: Mordecai's answer argues in three moves: the palace will not shield her, deliverance will arise to the Jews FROM ANOTHER PLACE if she is silent, and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for SUCH A TIME AS THIS, the sentence that occurs nowhere else in Scripture. The readings on another place are named and left standing: a veiled reference to heaven, so most of the bench with the Targums behind them, or an open political hope, so a minority; the book's refusal to name God is at its most deliberate exactly here. Providence in this verse is certain of its end and open about its instruments, which is the whole doctrine of Esther in one speech.
Esther 4:13, 1 voice
Esther 4:13
“Think not - that thou shalt escape - This confirms the suspicion that Haman knew something of the relationship between Mordecai and Esther; and therefore he gives her to understand that, although in the king’s palace, she should no more escape than the Jews.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 4:14, 3 voices
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!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 4:14
“From another place - This was the language of strong faith, against hope believing in hope. Who knoweth - It is probable God hath raised thee to this honour for this very season. We should every one of us consider, for what end God has put us in the place where we are?”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Esther 4:14
"If thou shouldst decline the service, enlargement and deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place. " This was the language of a strong faith, which staggered not at the promise when the danger was most threatening, but against hope believed in hope. Instruments may fail, but God's covenant will not.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
C. Fast for me, and if I perish, I perish
1. (vv. 15-16)
a.return Mordecai this answer: Esther's resolve is practical: gather all the Jews in Shushan, fast three days, night or day, I also and my maidens, the queen binding herself to the discipline she asks of others. Then the sentence verified as sole in Scripture: I will go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and IF I PERISH, I PERISH, lawful disobedience accepted with its full price, the shape of Shadrach's but-if-not at Dan 3:18, a likeness the older writers draw. The fast is communal, the risk is hers alone.
Esther 4:15, 1 voice
Esther 4:15
“She believed that God's favour was to be obtained by prayer, that his people are a praying people, and he a prayer-hearing God. She knew it was the practice of good people, in extraordinary cases, to join fasting with prayer, and many of them to join together in both.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Esther 4:16, 4 voices
Esther 4:16
“Why did Queen Esther expose herself to death and not fear the wrath of a fierce king? Was it not to save her people from death, an act both seemly and virtuous? The king of Persia himself also, though fierce and proud, yet thought it seemly to show honor to the man who had given information about a plot that had been laid against himself, to save a free people from slavery, to snatch them from death and not to spare him who had pressed on such unseemly plans.”
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· On the Duties of the Clergy 3.21.123-24patristic
Esther 4:16
“Many women, fortified by the grace of God, have accomplished many heroic actions. The blessed Judith, when the city was besieged, asked permission of the elders to be allowed to go into the foreigners' camp. By exposing herself to danger she went out for love of her country and of the people who were besieged, and the Lord delivered Holophernes into the hand of a woman. To no less danger did Esther, who was perfect in faith, expose herself, in order to save the twelve tribes of Israel that were to be destroyed.”
Clement of Rome· written before 99· 1 CLEMENT 55.3-6patristic
Esther 4:16
“Fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days - What a strange thing, that still we hear nothing of prayer, nor of God! What is the ground on which we can account for this total silence? I know it not. She could not suppose there was any charm in fasting, sackcloth garments, and lying on the ground. If these were not done to turn away the displeasure of God, which seemed now to have unchained their enemies against them, what were they done for?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 4:16
“Fast - And pray; so as you use to do, leave off your common dinners by day, and suppers at night, and eat and drink no more than mere necessity requires; that so you may give yourselves to constant and fervent prayers.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2. (v. 17)
a.went his way: The chapter closes on a reversal of authority the narrator does not comment on: Mordecai, who commanded Esther at 2:10 and 2:20 and whose commandment she did as when she was brought up with him, now did according to all that Esther had commanded him. The ward has become the leader, and from this verse forward the book's initiative belongs to the queen.
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Esther 4. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 11 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 3.21.123-24; Clement of Rome, 1 CLEMENT 55.3-6; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765); Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; Matthew Henry and W. F. Adeney, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Expositor's Bible).
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