Esther 4 is the fourth
chapter of the
Book of Esther in the
Hebrew Bible or the
Old Testament of the
ChristianBible.[1] The author of the book is unknown and modern scholars have established that the final stage of the Hebrew text would have been formed by the second century BCE.[2]Chapters 3 to
8 contain the nine scenes that form the complication in the book.[3] This chapter describes the reaction of the Jews to
Haman's evil decree, focusing on
Mordecai's action of mourning and fasting, which eventually forced
Esther to take action on her own by risking her life to appear uninvited before King
Ahasuerus.[4]
Mordecai hears the threat of genocide against the Jews (4:1–3)
When they heard the threat of genocide, Mordecai and the Jews throughout the Persian empire showed religious response publicly, although without referring to God.[8]
Verse 1
When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;[9]
And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.[11]
Mordecai impresses on Esther the need for action (4:4–17)
Memorial window in St Nicholas, Wallasey, to Rosa Slade (1872-1936), showing Esther and Mordecai from
Esther 4:14,
16.
This section records the communication between Mordecai and Esther, which passed through three stages:[8]
Esther's gift of clothes to Mordecai was rejected. No words were spoken. (
verse 4)
Oral and written messages were sent from Mordecai to Esther, but the words are not reported. (
verses 5–9)
Exchange of words between Esther and Mordecai are narrated. (
verses 10–17)[8]
These stages represent a movement in Esther from ignorance to understanding to decision: Esther eventually took charge and Mordecai went to do 'everything that Esther had commanded him'.[8]
Verse 14
[Mordecai said:] "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"[14]
Mordecai's statement assumes the existence of a providential order, although God is not mentioned by name at all.[15]
Some ancient references (
Josephus; Targum Esther I,
II) understand the Hebrew word mā-qōm ("place") as a circumlocution for God.[15]
Verse 16
[Esther said:] "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"[16]
"And if I perish, I perish": This statement shows that Esther accepts the risk, acknowledging its necessity.[18] The form of expression reflects Jacob's words in
Genesis 43:14.[18]
Turner, L. A. (2013). Desperately Seeking YHWH: Finding God in Esther's "Acrostics". Interested Readers. Essays on the Hebrew Bible in Honor of David J. A. Clines, 183–193.