Esther 4:4  So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.
5  Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was.
6  So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate.
7  And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the 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 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.
9  And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.
10  Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai;
11  All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.
12  And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.
13  Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.
14  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?

In verse 4 we read that Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told her what was going on with Mordecai. Esther thought a change of clothing would fix Mordecai’s problem. She sent clothing for him, but he did not receive it. This problem could not be fixed with a change of clothes. This was a spiritual problem that needed to change of heart. That change is something only God can make. God does not force that change upon anyone. He works to help people to see the need to change, but they still have to choose to change. That did not happen in the book of Esther.
God worked behind the scenes to keep His promise to Abraham. Mordecai and Esther did not seem to perceive the need to know the true God and serve Him properly.
In verse 5 Esther sent Hatach to find out what was wrong with Mordecai. She had been misled by Mordecai and was unaware of the letters that had been sent out to all regions.
Hatach was obedient to Esther’s command and approached Mordecai about his behaviour. In verse 7 we read that Mordecai told Hatach what had happened and about the bribe that Haman had paid to the king to get this decree sent out. Mordecai told Hatach that Haman had planned to destroy the Jews.
There can be no doubt that this was a serious problem. Even though most of the Jews in Persia were secular, they did not want to be destroyed. They wanted to be able to live comfortably among pagan people. They did not understand that they were hated people because of the spiritual warfare that the devil was trying to wage against God.
In verse 8 we see that Mordecai all of a sudden had a change of mind regarding his people. Now he wanted Esther to go before the king and show him who she was and who her people were. God is always at work. He is seeking to purify His people. The Jews are in a class by themselves. They are a nation that was developed by God out of nothing. God took one man, Abram and told him to leave his homeland. He was to take his wife Sarai with him and they were to leave his family behind and move to a new land that He would give Abram. Abram was reluctant to leave his family and took some of them along. God did not approve of this compromise and He continued to work to separate Abram from his family. God changed his name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. Through them God provided a son named Isaac. That son would have two sons named Esau and Jacob. God chose Jacob to be the seed to carry on His promise to Abraham. The story carried on and God continued to build His nation, Israel. It did not take that many years before Israel decided they did not want to be a special people. They wanted to blend in with the rest of the world. God would not throw away His promise to Abraham. Israel suffered greatly due to their rejection of God’s promise. They are still in that place of rejection. They have not gained anything by rebelling against God, but they still insist on rebelling.
Back in our text, Mordecai needed help now. He knew that he could not fix this problem on his own. He needed the help of the king. He actually needed the help of the God he did not seem to know.
In verse 9 we see that Hatach brought Esther the words of Mordecai. In verse 10 Esther prepared her response for Hatach to bring back to Mordecai. In verse 11 we see that Esther had a strange relationship with the king. She was his wife, and she was the queen, but it was a strained relationship she had with the king. This was a good thing in that the king was living in adultery, and Esther had been subjected to an ungodly marriage. Mordecai had not protected her.
In verse 11 Esther explained the current situation. The king was quite an irrational man. His drunkenness had affected his mind. The law of the Persians was that no-one could come before the king except the king would approve of the person and hold out his golden sceptre. Esther did not have the confidence that the king would accept her into his presence at any time. She feared for her life. That is certainly not the way a godly marriage would function. This was not a godly marriage.
Esther further stated she had not been called to come unto the king for thirty days. As mentioned, this was a strange marriage relationship.
In verse 12 this message from Esther was conveyed to Mordecai. In verse 13 we see that Mordecai had no time for this kind of chatter. He knew that Esther was in just as much danger as the rest of the Jews were. The letter that Haman had sent out stated that all Jews needed to be killed. As we noted earlier, the king loved Esther but not in a Biblical way. He had not spoken to her for thirty days. That is not how a godly marriage works.
In verse 14, Mordecai continued to press Esther to act upon this threat in her capacity as the queen. If she would not speak up now, she would face the same fate as Mordecai and all other Jews. Mordecai also believed that somehow there would be deliverance granted to the Jews from some other source. He did not mention God. He just assumed that somehow they would be spared annihilation.
Mordecai further stated that possibly Esther was brought to her current position by some act of fate. There was no indication here of any trust in God. There was no admission of God’s hand at work here. God was at work in spite of the secular nature of the Jews. He would not allow anyone to interfere with His promise to Abraham. God is still in charge of the course of the world today. Many things are happening that are against His design, but nothing is happening that is hindering His plan from moving forward. One day, Israel will repent and be saved. In the meantime, God’s Word is going forth and all people are being given multiple opportunities to be saved and then serve the true God.
There are many people today who make choices that are contrary to the will of God, and they even go so far as to claim that God led them in making their ungodly choices. Man is quite capable of twisting God’s truth for his own designs. No man will change God’s Word. The perversions are there, but they are not accepted of God. Those who follow them will answer to the God Who gave His Word and preserved His Word for ever.
In our text, Mordecai suggested that it was possible that Esther had been put into her current position for just such a purpose as the Jews faced now. God never needs us to sin to accomplish His will. God had kept the nation of Israel from being annihilated up to this point. He had shown that He would protect His promise to Abraham even when Israel failed to follow Him. He also showed that He would judge those nations that would curse Israel.
The Babylonians had their opportunity to turn to the true God. God brought them into Jerusalem and allowed them to destroy the temple and take the temple vessels back to Babylon. He also allowed them to take prisoners. Among those prisoners were 4 men that were a great asset to Babylon, even though the king did not want that type of an asset. The Babylonians were given the opportunity to know the true God. It seems that Nebuchadnezzar came to know the true God but his successor did not accept that for himself.
God brought the Medo/Persians in to destroy the Babylonian empire. The Babylonian philosophy
was adopted into the Medo/Persian empire, but the Babylonian empire was done. Saddam Hussein tried to revive that empire but he was stopped. In the book of the Revelation, that philosophy will be brought back into the mainstream. It will be completely crushed by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The nation of Israel will never be destroyed. As we have mentioned before, many Jews have died and gone to hell. Many Jews that are alive today will suffer that same fate, due to their rejection of the truth.
The hostages that have been released of late, do not seem to have learned any necessary lessons from their ordeal. Their families have not learned either. Mr. Netanyahu has not learned the necessary lesson either. However, God is not going to allow Hezbollah or Hamas or any other people destroy His nation. Hezbollah and Hamas and Iran and all those who oppose Israel will be destroyed. The nation of Israel will eventually repent and know the true Messiah — Jesus Christ and they will receive Him as their Messiah and King.
The book of Esther shows us how God works behind the scenes to protect His name. The Jews were protected from annihilation in that time period, but they did not benefit from God’s hand of protection as they could have.
It is important for us today to be careful not to miss out on the blessings of the Lord. It is important to know Him and to serve Him faithfully. Others need to know the true God. Those who are saved have the privilege of stepping out in faith and living for the Lord in this current generation. God’s plan will move forward. It is wise to be moving forward with Him rather than missing out on His blessings.
Pastor Bartel