Esther 4:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
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;
a shriek or outcry · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Daniel 9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
2 Samuel 1:11 Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him:
2 Samuel 13:19 And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.
Ezekiel 27:30-31 And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow the…
Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Micah 1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bi…
Acts 14:14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Esther 4:1-4
Here we have an account of the general sorrow that there was among the Jews upon the publishing of Haman's bloody edict against them. It was a sad time with the church. 1. Mordecai cried bitterly, rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth, Est 4:1, Est 4:2. He not only thus vented his grief, but proclaimed it, that all might take notice of it that he was not ashamed to own himself a friend to the Jews, and a fellow-sufferer with them, their brother and companion in tribulation, how despicable and how odious soever they were now represented by Haman's faction. It was nobly done thus publicly to espouse what he knew to be a righteous cause, and the cause of God, even when it seemed a desperate an…
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: Αιρεται εθνος μηδεν ηδικηκος, A people are going to be destroyed, who have done no evil!
John Gill on 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 the sight of the edicts which were published in Shushan; though the Jews think it was made known to him in a supernatural way, either by Elijah, as the former Targum (x), or by the Holy Ghost, as the latter:
Mordecai rent his clothes: both behind and before, according to the same Targum; and this was a custom used in mourning, not only with the Jews, but with the Persians also, as Herodotus (y) relates:
and put on sackcloth with ashes; upon his head, as the former Targum; which was usual in mou…
Mordochai learnt all that was done, - not only what had been openly proclaimed, but, as is shown by Est 4:7, also the transaction between the king and Haman. Then he rent his garments, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, making loud and bitter lamentation. Comp. on the last words, Gen 27:34. The combination of אפר with שׂק ילבּשׁ is an abbreviation for: put on a hairy garment and spread ashes upon his head, in sign of deep grief; comp. Dan 9:3; Job 2:12, and elsewhere.
Est 4:2
And came even before the king's gate, i.e., according to Est 4:6, the open space before the entrance to the royal palace; for none might enter wearing mourning. לבוא אין, there is no en…
The Church Fathers
When Mordecai heard about the destruction of the Jews which had been sanctioned with an imperial decree, he put on clothes for mourning and proceeded to the gates of the palace with bitterness in his soul and grief in his voice. In the same way, after the teachers of the church hear of the persecution which the princes of this world want to bring against the innocent servants of Christ, they come with their prayers and alms, with vigils and prayers, with tears and heavy hearts in view of what they know must happen. They give their all before the supreme judge, so that through the dignity and prayers of the true queen, namely, the holy church—which is still a stranger in this world even as it reigns in heaven together with the Lord—they might be heard by the king of the universe. If someone, then, should ask how it might be fitting to a most just king to inflict torments on the innocent, let him know that this is not the result of an evil decision, but of the command of a supreme will. Indeed divine wisdom—a wisdom which defeats every wickedness and leads things from beginning to end with its power, and perfectly arranges everything—does whatever it wants in heaven and on earth, in the sea, and in every abyss. The events that occur, occur fairly so that (God's) faithful servant may be given into the hands of their persecutors both for the expiation of sin, and the correction of their habits … as the prophet testifies, "the Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. The Lord is near to all who call on him."
When Mordecai hears that the slaughter of the Jews has been fixed by imperial decree, he dresses himself in somber clothing and approaches the doors of the palace with a bitter soul and a wailing voice; and when the leaders of the Church hear about the persecution which the princes of the earth desire to inflict upon the blameless slaves of Christ, they long to pour out their troubles—with fasting and charity, with vigils and prayer, with tears and the devotion of the heart—to the hidden recesses of Heaven, i.e. in the sight of the supreme judge. So in light of the honor and the prayers of the true queen, i.e. the holy Church which even now wanders the earth for some of the time, and rules with the Lord in Heaven for the rest, they deserve to be heard by the king of all ages. If, moreover, one were to ask how it might befit a just king to inflict torments on the innocent, he should know that the source of this is not some desire to do harm but the intention of the highest providence; for the divine wisdom—which conquers every sort of wickedness and reaches powerfully from one end to the other, and disposes everything with ease—does whatever it wishes in Heaven and on earth, on the sea and in all the depths. It is, in other words, with just judgment that his faithful servants are delivered into the hands of the persecutors, whether to expiate their sins or to correct their behavior or even to add to their merits or multiply their rewards, since— as the prophet testifies—"the Lord is just in all his ways, and holy in all his acts; he is close to all who call upon him" (Psalms 145). In truth, he will do the will of those who fear him, and will listen to their prayers and bring them salvation; for the Lord did not deliver Job into Satan's hands to destroy him because he asked him to, but so that with Job's help he could defeat his most wicked enemy and so acquire for himself the palm of victory, and leave to that enemy the just punishment for his wickedness. The apostle Paul was subjected to a corporal goad, namely the angel of Satan, who pummeled him so that his virtue would be perfected in a state of weakness. We should also be careful not to pass over in silence the statement that Mordecai could not enter the royal court because he had put on sackcloth, but instead got as far as the doors of the palace; because no one who has been polluted by the life of…
Dictionary and topics
Dress — (1.) Materials used. The earliest and simplest an apron of fig-leaves sewed together (Gen. 3:7); then skins of animals (3:21). Elijah’s dress was probably the skin of a sheep (2 Kings 1:8). The…
Sackcloth — Cloth made of black goats’ hair, coarse, rough, and thick, used for sacks, and also worn by mourners (Gen. 37:34; 42:25; 2 Sam. 3:31; Esther 4:1, 2; Ps. 30:11, etc.), and as a sign of repentance…
Ashes · A symbol of mourning — A symbol of mourning
Readings, Select · ESTHER’ S TRIUMPH — ESTHER’ S TRIUMPH
Sabbath, The · Was worn: With ashes on the head — Was worn: With ashes on the head
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Mordecai’s dramatic response showed extreme grief and mourning (see 2 Sam 1:11; Ezra 9; Jon 3:5-9).
Rashi on Esther 4:1
Mordechai was apprized. The Master of Dreams told him1He was told by means of a dream and not by רוח הקדש [The Holy Spirit], a higher form of prophecy, because “Shushan was in confusion,” and רוח הקדש [The Holy Spirit] dwells only in the midst of joy. Alternatively, Eliyahu the prophet told him. that the celestial beings had consented to this [decree], because they had prostrated themselves to the idol in the days of Nevuchadnetzar, and because they had enjoyed Achashveirosh’s feast.2See Esther Rabbah 7:13 and Maseches Megillah 12a.
