Esther, who knew naught of what was happening at court, was greatly
alarmed when her attendants told her that Mordecai had appeared in the
precincts of the palace clothed in sackcloth and ashes. She was so
overcome by fright that she was deprived of the joys of motherhood to
which she had been looking forward with happy expectancy. (127) She
sent clothes to Mordecai, who, however, refused to lay aside his garb
of mourning until God permitted miracles to come to pass for Israel,
wherein he followed the example of such great men in Israel as Jacob,
David, and Ahab, and of the Gentile inhabitants of Nineveh at the time
of Jonah. By no means would he array himself in court attire so long as
his people was exposed to sure suffering. (128) The queen sent for
Daniel, called also Hathach in the Scriptures, and charged him to learn
from Mordecai wherefore he was mourning. (129)
To escape all danger from spying ears, Hathach and Mordecai had their
conversation in the open, like Jacob when he consulted with his wives
Leah and Rachel about leaving their father Laban. (130) By Hathach
Mordecai sent word to the queen, that Haman was an Amalekite, who like
his ancestor sought to destroy Israel. (131) He requested her to appear
before the king and plead for the Jews, reminding her at the same time
of a dream he had once had and told her about.
Once, when Mordecai had spent a long time weeping and lamenting over
the misery of the Jews in the Dispersion, and prayed fervently to God
to redeem Israel and rebuild the Temple, he fell asleep, and in his
sleep a dream visited him. He dreamed he was transported to a desert
place he had never seen before. Many nations lived there jumbled
together, only one small and despised nation kept apart at a short
distance. Suddenly a snake shot up from the midst of the nations,
rising higher and higher, and growing stronger and larger in proportion
as it rose. It darted in the direction of the spot in which they tiny
nation stood, and tried to project itself upon it. Impenetrable clouds
and darkness enveloped the little nation, and when the snake was on the
point of seizing it, a hurricane arose from the four corners of the
world, covering the snake as clothes cover a man, and blew it to bits.
The fragments scattered hither and thither like chaff before the wind,
until not a speck of the monster was to be found anywhere. Then the
cloud and the darkness vanished from above the little nation, the
splendor of the sun again enveloped it. (132)
This dream Mordecai recorded in a book, and when the storm began to
rage against the Jews, he thought of it, and demanded that Esther go to
the king as the advocate of her people. At first she did not feel
inclined to accede to the wishes of Mordecai. By her messenger she
recalled to his mind, that he himself had insisted upon her keeping her
Jewish descent a secret. (133) Besides, she had always tried to refrain
from appearing before the king at her own initiative, in order that she
might not be instrumental in bringing down sin upon her soul, for she
well remembered Mordecai's teaching, that "a Jewish woman, captive
among the heathen, who of her own accord goes to them, loses her
portion in the Jewish nation." She had been rejoicing that her
petitions had been granted, and the king had not come nigh unto her
this last month. Was she now voluntarily to present herself before him?
(134) Furthermore, she had her messenger inform Mordecai, that Haman
had introduced a new palace regulation. Any one who appeared before the
king without having been summoned by Haman, would suffer the death
penalty. Therefore, she could not, if she would, go to the king to
advocate the cause of the Jews. (135)
Esther urged her uncle to refrain from incensing Haman and furnishing
him with a pretext for wreaking the hatred of Esau to Jacob upon
Mordecai and his nation. Mordecai, however, was firmly convinced that
Esther was destined by God to save Israel. How could her miraculous
history be explained otherwise? At the very moment Esther was taken to
court, he had thought: "Is it conceivable that God would force so pious
a woman to wed with a heathen, were it not that she is appointed to
save Israel from menacing dangers?" (136)
Firm as Mordecai was in his determination to make Esther take a hand in
affairs, he yet did not find it a simple matter to communicate with
her. For Hathach was killed by Haman as soon as it was discovered that
he was acting as mediator between Mordecai and Esther. (137) There was
none to replace him, unto God dispatched the archangels Michael and
Gabriel to carry messages from one to the other and back again. (138)
Mordecai sent word to her, if she let the opportunity to help Israel
slip by, she would have to give account for the omission before the
heavenly court. (139) To Israel in distress, however, help would come
from other quarters. Never had God forsaken His people in time of need.
Moreover, he admonished her, that, as the descendant of Saul, it was
her duty to make reparation for her ancestor's sin in not having put
Agag to death. Had he done as he was bidden, the Jews would not now
have to fear the machinations of Haman, the offspring of Agag. He bade
her supplicate her Heavenly Father to deal with the present enemies of
Israel as He had dealt with his enemies in former ages. To give her
encouragement, Mordecai continued: "Is Haman so surpassing great that
his plan against the Jews must succeed? Dost though mean to say that he
is superior to his own ancestor Amalek, whom God crushed when he
precipitated himself upon Israel? Is he mightier than the thirty-one
kings who fought against Israel and whom Joshua slew 'with the word of
God'? Is he stronger than Sisera, who went out against Israel with nine
hundred iron chariots, and yet met his death at the hands of a mere
woman, the punishment for having withdrawn the use of the water-springs
from the Israelites and prevented their wives from taking the
prescribed ritual baths and thus from fulfilling their conjugal duty?
Is he more powerful than Goliath, who reviled the warriors of Israel,
and was slain by David? Or is he more invincible than the sons of
Orpah, who waged wars with Israel, and were killed by David and his
men? Therefore, do not refrain thy mouth from prayer, and thy lips from
supplication, for on account of the merits of our fathers, Israel has
ever and ever been snatched out of the jaws of death. He who has at all
times done wonders for Israel, will deliver the enemy into our hands
now, for us to do with him as seemeth best to us."
What he endeavored to impress upon Esther particularly, was that God
would bring help to Israel without her intermediation, but it was to
her interest to use the opportunity, for which alone she had reached
her exalted place, to make up for the transgressions committed by her
house, Saul and his descendants. (140)
Yielding at last to the arguments of Mordecai, Esther was prepared to
risk life in this world, in order to secure life in the world to come.
She made only one request of her uncle. He was to have the Jews spend
three days in prayer and fasting in her behalf, that she might find
favor in the eyes of the king. At first Mordecai was opposed to the
proclamation of a fast, because it was Passover time, and the law
prohibits fasting on the holidays. But he finally assented to Esther's
reasoning: "Of what avail are the holidays, if there is no Israel to
celebrate them, and without Israel, there would not be even a Torah.
Therefore it is advisable to transgress on law, that God may have mercy
upon us." (141)