Esther 4:1

When Mordecai perceived all that was done,.... By the king, at the instigation of Haman, against the Jews; which he came to the knowledge of, either by some of the conflicts or by common fame, or on

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; When Mordecai perceived all that was done.

ESTHER CHAPTER 4 The great mourning of Mordecai and the Jews, . He showeth Esther the cause of it, and adviseth her to petition the king for her people, . She, excusing herself, is threatened by Mordecai, . She appoints a general fast, and resolves to go in to the king, . Partly, to express his deep sense of the mischief coming upon his people; partly, to move the pity of others to do what they could to prevent it; and partly, that by this means it might come to the queen’ s ear.

Esther 4:1 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;Ver. 1. When Mordecai perceived all that was done] Mαθωντογινομενον, saith Josephus, when he had learned or fully informed himself, so that he knew it to be so, as the Hebrew text hath it (Jadang.). Solicitous he was of the Church’ s welfare, and sat listening, as Eli did once, what would become of the ark, 1 Samuel 3:13. Now therefore, as ill news is swift of foot, saith Sophocles, αιβλαβαιποδωκεις, and comes like ill weather, before it be sent for, Mordecai taketh knowledge of that bloody decree, though Esther and those about her had not heard of it, Esther 4:4-5. Neither sitteth he still at home, as desponding and despairing, or seeketh by sinister practices to help himself and his people, but applieth himself, first, to God, by hearty humiliation and prayer; and then to the king, by the intercession of Esther. A carnal heart would have taken other shifting courses, like as a dog that hath lost his master will follow after any other for relief. Mordecai rent his clothes] To show that his very heart was rent with sorrow for Sion. This custom of rending their clothes in time and in token of greatest grief, was in use not among the Jews only, but Persians also, and other nations, as is noted by Herodotus and Curtius. And put on sackcloth] The coarsest clothing he could get; as holding any clothes too good for so vile a captive, and showing that but for shame he would have worn none. So the Nine vites sat in sackcloth and ashes, for more humiliation. See Exodus 33:4, &c. And ashes] He put on ashes or dust, that is, a dusty garment sprinkled with ashes, saith Drusius, putting his mouth in the dust, as Lamentations 3:29, acknowledging himself to be of the earth earthy, and fit fuel for hell fire, Non e foco, sed e terra desumptum pulverem notat (Merlin). And went out into the midst of the city] That he might be a pattern to others. Si vis me flere, &c. And cried with a loud and a bitter cry] More barbarico, after the manner of that country; but there was more in it than so. It was not his own danger that so much affected him (how gladly could he have wished, with Ambrose, that God would please to turn all the adversaries from the Church upon himself, and let them satisfy their thirst with his blood? Oτιμηδεναδικησονεθνοςαναιρειται, Joseph.) as that so many innocent people should perish. This made him lift up his voice unto God on high.

IV.(1) Mordecai rent his clothes.—This was a common sign of sorrow among Eastern nations generally. It will be noticed that the sorrow both of Mordecai and of the Jews generally (Esther 4:3) is described by external manifestations solely. There is rending of garments, putting on of sackcloth and ashes, fasting and weeping and wailing: there is nothing said of prayer and entreaty to the God of Israel, and strong crying to Him who is able to save. Daniel and Ezra and Nehemiah are all Jews, who, like Mordecai and Esther, have to submit to the rule of the alien, though, unlike them, they, when the danger threatened, besought, and not in vain, the help of their God. (See Daniel 6:10; Ezra 8:23; Nehemiah 1:4, &c.)

CHAPTER IV On hearing the king's decree to exterminate the Jews, Mordecai mourns, and clothes himself in sackcloth, 1, 2. The Jews are filled with consternation, 3. Esther, perceived Mordecai in distress at the palace gate, sends her servant Hatach to inquire the reason, 4-6. Hatach returns with the information, and also the express desire of Mordecai that she should go instantly to the king, and make supplication in behalf of her people, 7-9. Esther excuses herself on the ground that she had not been called by the king for thirty days past; and that the law was such that any one approaching his presence, without express invitation, should be put to death, unless the king should, in peculiar clemency, stretch out to such persons the golden sceptre, 10-12. Mordecai returns an answer, insisting on her compliance, 13, 14. She then orders Mordecai to gather all the Jews of Shushan, and fast for her success three days, night and day, and resolves to make the attempt, though at the risk of her life, 15-17. NOTES ON CHAP. IV Verse 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: Αιρεταιεθνοςμηδενηδικηκος, A people are going to be destroyed, who have done no evil!

Chap. Esther 4:1-3. Dismay of Mordecai and the Jews Mordecai not only shares with the other dwellers in Susa the knowledge of the impending calamity, but also has obtained (Esther 4:7) information as to the nature of the transactions between the king and Haman. He exhibits the usual Oriental tokens of grief and horror.

1. Mordecai rent his clothes — The customary sign of bitter grief. See 2 Samuel 1:11, note. A like sign was also the putting on of sackcloth sad sitting in ashes, (Job 2:8; Jonah 3:6,) or sprinkling ashes upon the head.