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Esther 4 Bible study: For such a time as this
Mordecai said relief and deliverance "will come to the Jews from another place" (4:14), and never said from where; in Hebrew, deliverance comes nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Esther answered with his own word: "if I perish, I perish" (4:16). And the man who had given her orders "did according to all that Esther had commanded him" (4:17).
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“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?”
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“At the end of Esther 4, Mordecai did according to all that Esther had commanded him.”
Is that in Esther 4, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Sackcloth at the king's gate
"Now when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, and wailed loudly and bitterly" (4:1) (tap sackcloth). He goes as far as he may: "He came even before the king’s gate, for no one is allowed inside the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth" (4:2). And it isn't only Mordecai. "In every province, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes" (4:3) (tap mourning, fasting). Esther hears it from her maidens and her eunuchs, "and the queen was exceedingly grieved" (4:4). "She sent clothing to Mordecai, to replace his sackcloth, but he didn’t receive it" (4:4). The chapter doesn't say why he wouldn't take it.
Where it leads to Jesus
He who loses his life
Esther 4:16leads toMatthew 10:39
Mordecai sent word to Esther, "Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews" (4:13), and she answered, "Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish" (4:16). When Jesus "sent these twelve out" (Matthew 10:5), he told them, "He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). Jesus doesn't cite Esther, and no link between the Hebrew and Greek words is claimed, so setting the two side by side is a reading, resting on a shared subject: not holding on to one's own life. Some read Esther's "if I perish, I perish" beside Jesus' words, as one who did not hold on to her own life. Others read each in its own setting: Jesus speaks of losing one's life "for my sake", and says it "will find it" (Matthew 10:39); Esther resolves to go in to the king as Mordecai urged, "to make request before him for her people" (4:8), with no promise of how it will end, and the book draws no lesson from it. Neither reading makes Esther a picture of Jesus.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Esther 4
That was a taste
The rest of Esther 4 is waiting in Favor
- Every word by messenger
- "Who knows?"
- Words that come back
- The inner court and the golden scepter
- 7 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Esther 4 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
עֵתetsay AYT
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "time". Strong's: "time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etc.". It comes twice in one verse: "For if you remain silent now" and "Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (4:14). Behind the WEB's now and such a time is this same word, both times with the same Hebrew word for this after it. It comes five times in the Hebrew of Esther.
For your group
Esther 4 Bible study questions
- 1Mordecai told Esther, "Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews" (4:13). Where are you tempted to stay quiet because you feel safe where you are?
- 2"Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (4:14). Where has your life put you, right now, that might matter for someone else?
- 3Before she went in, Esther asked others to fast with her (4:16). When you face something hard, who do you ask to stand with you, and what keeps you from asking?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Esther 4 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home