What did Esther risk to save her people?
When Mordecai tells her of the decree, Esther answers that going unsummoned to the king means death. She calls the people to fast, then walks in, and speaks the words the book is remembered for.
This question arose from studying Why did Haman want to destroy the Jews?.
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What the Scripture says
Sackcloth at the gate
When Mordecai learns all that is done, he tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth with ashes, and goes out into the city wailing bitterly. The decree is not abstract to him. It is a death sentence on his people, and on the daughter he raised.
Now when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and wailed loudly and a bitterly.
One law for him: that he be put to death
Esther sends word that no one may approach the king unsummoned, on pain of death, unless the king holds out the golden scepter. For thirty days she has not been called, so to go in is to risk her own life. Courage here has a real cost.
“All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to the king into the inner court without being called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king might hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
You and your father's house will perish
Mordecai sends back that she should not think she will escape in the king's house any more than all the Jews. If she stays silent, she loses her people and herself. The choice is not between safety and danger, but between silence and rescue.
Then Mordecai asked them return answer to Esther, “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews.
Who knows if you haven't come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Mordecai's question is the hinge of the book. Perhaps Esther's quiet rise to the throne was not chance but purpose. The same question sits before every reader in a hard place: what have I been placed here for?
For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Go, gather all the Jews, and fast... if I perish, I perish
Esther calls the Jews of Susa to fast three days, and she and her maidens will fast with them. Then she will go to the king, which is against the law, and 'if I perish, I perish.' On the third day she stands in the court, the king holds out the scepter, and the rescue begins.
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
Now on the third day, Esther put on her royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, next to the king’s house. The king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, next to the entrance of the house. When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter.
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How did the king's sleepless night save a nation?→“On that night, the king couldn’t sleep. He commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the king.”How did the tables turn on Haman?→“So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.”What is the feast of Purim?→“as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending presents of food to one another, and gifts to the needy.”How does Esther point to Christ?→““Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.””How does the book of Esther point forward to the greater exodus?→“Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
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