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;
I would assume he wasn’t the only Jew out mourning in public over this.
2 And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.
3 And in every province, whithersoever 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 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.
Esther would have been quite sheltered in the palace. She would not have known all the goings on in the country. She did know that Mordecai would not be allowed to visit her or do his job for the king as long as he was wearing sackcloth.
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 show 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.
He laid it all out. I wonder if this servant knew yet who Esther really was.
Since Esther was the queen, it was normal to assume she could help in this matter.
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 women, 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 scepter, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.”
Only those the king wanted to see were allowed into his presence. Even his own queen could not come visit him or take her problems to him.
This is not really much of a marriage in the way God designed marriage to be. A wife should be able to take all her problems, concerns and joys to her husband to share, not be afraid of having her head cut off for wanting to be with him.
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?”
Mordecai was confident that God would preserve His people no matter what. But he also believed Esther was to be God’s tool for this emergency. This is the closest this book comes to mentioning God, though the apocryphal version contains several prayers to the All Mighty.
God places us where we are for a reason. There are no accidents. Surprises to us, yes. But not accidents. God knew before He molded this world exactly what was going to happen to each of us in every situation.
Now, He has chosen to give us free will. Esther could still have refused to go into the king uninvited. But God knew from the beginning what choices we are going to make. He knew Haman was going to choose to hate all Jews instead of going to Mordecai and learn about God. So He arranged beforehand to have a couple people in power to counteract him. He knew Esther would choose to go to the king. If she hadn’t, He would have known that ahead of time and already had salvation planned from some other source. Of course, it’s very likely that we would never have heard of Esther in that case, maybe a different woman being queen. As Mordecai said, she and her father’s name would have been wiped out.
When it comes right down to it, this life isn’t about how God fits into our story. It’s about how we fit into God’s.
15 Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,
16 “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.”
Esther asked for prayer. Prayer is a powerful thing and can change the world.
17 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.