And Mordecai bade to answer Esther Imagine not in thy heart that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews.
A royal decree to destroy the Jews has gone out, and Esther has just sent word that no one — not even the queen — may approach the king uninvited. Mordecai's reply refuses that plea and raises two questions the book turns on: is anyone safe by position, and where does rescue come from?
Esther's difficulty was real. Persian law made the king unreachable, and he had not summoned her for a month.
Mordecai commands her to go in to the king and plead for her people. But what use is his command when even access to the king's presence is closed? Suppose Esther appears before Ahasuerus without an invitation, and he has ignored her for thirty days. She will be put to death. One feeble resource is left: the king may be pleased to hold out the golden scepter to her. So the only way of escape is the grace of the man who holds sovereign authority.
Verse 13 takes away Esther's one safeguard. Her place in the palace will not shelter her, because she is a Jew before she is a queen.
Mordecai sent an urgent response to Esther: she must not think she will escape in the king's palace any more than the other Jews will. "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish" (vv. 13-14). Perhaps Mordecai was confident that God would step in for the Jews. Even so, he again does not mention the Lord. He also asked her a very fitting question: had Esther come to her present position for the very purpose of meeting this serious attack of the enemy? Certainly this proved to be true.
Notice what Mordecai never asks for.
It would have been quite natural for Mordecai to say, "If you cannot save all the people, at least save me and the house of your father, for you belong to the untouchable house of the king." He does not think of his personal interest and safety; it is the salvation of his people that is on his heart. He knows that Esther is in a position not only to be saved herself, but also to save her people.
The book of Esther never names God, and Mordecai keeps that pattern even while leaning his whole weight on Him.
Mordecai sends her a very clear but severe message… Not a word about God. He is hidden. Mordecai means God, yet he guards God's secrecy so perfectly that he only hints at Him in this remarkable way: "then relief and deliverance shall arise to the Jews from another place." God would look down from heaven. But Mordecai speaks only of the place, not of the person.
Why was Mordecai so sure that rescue would come?
In these words Mordecai expressed his deep conviction that the Jewish people cannot perish. He knew the history of the past, and he trusted God to find a way out this time too.
Mordecai's words about "another place" show how faith acts whenever the old supports collapse.
When the kingdom lay in ruins, faith still waited in hope of sure and certain sovereign relief, coming in new ways that suited new conditions. At such a time Mordecai said, "Relief and deliverance shall arise to the Jews from another place." But now, in the face of failure and confusion, whatever form it takes, faith has God and His Word, Christ and Scripture… Faith is ready for failure in God's stewards. But having reached God Himself, it rests at ease and is satisfied.
Esther's answer was to call for a three-day fast in Shushan, the Persian capital, before she went to the king.
Even here it is striking to see that, though her faith shines, the Name stays as secret as ever. Yet fasting surely meant the most earnest prayer to Him who dwelt in the thick darkness. He would hear in Shushan the palace as surely as in the temple at Jerusalem.
- Position — a place in the palace was no shelter; Esther would not escape any more than the rest of her people.
- Silence — staying quiet guaranteed loss: "you and your father's house will perish."
- Selflessness — Mordecai never asked her to save him. His people's rescue filled his heart.
- Secrecy — God is never named, yet "from another place" is Mordecai pointing to Him; he names the place, not the person.
- Surrender — Esther's fast was prayer without words, and God heard it in the palace as surely as in the temple.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there arise relief and deliverance to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall perish. And who knows whether thou art [not] come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Mordecai's reply is the turning point of the book. Her crown will not save her, help for the Jews will come with or without her, and the One who will send that help is never named.
The whole message points to God without ever saying so. One commentator notes how Mordecai shapes the sentence:
Not a word about God. He is hidden. Mordecai means God. But God stays so completely hidden that Mordecai only hints at Him in this remarkable way: "relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place." God would look down from heaven. Mordecai speaks only of the place, not of the person.
That silence runs through the whole book, and it is deliberate:
People have often noticed that the name of God never appears in the book of Esther. This is characteristic. God does not show Himself. The government of the world had fallen to that throne, with all its power and all its mistakes. But behind it, God holds the reins by His providence. He watches over the fulfilment of His purposes and over everything they need. And He cares for His people, whatever their condition and however strong their enemies.
Commentators differ on how much faith these words carry. One reads them against a book where prayer is never mentioned, and hears only a faint hope:
In their deepest distress they wear sackcloth and sprinkle ashes on their heads. They call a fast. But there is never a word of prayer or pleading... All we see in these believers is concern for their nation. As the final blow comes closer, we see distress and deep anguish, with one faint thought, prompted by faith, that help might come "from another place."
Another hears settled assurance in the same phrase, and traces its effect on the queen:
He had warned her plainly and seriously. If she stayed silent, ruin would come on her and on her father's house. Yet at the same time he was completely certain that relief and deliverance would come from another place. This is the victory that overcomes the world — our faith; and we may surely apply it here.
He could have appealed to Esther on grounds of family loyalty. He did not:
It would have been natural for Mordecai to say, "If you cannot save all the people, at least save me and your father's house. You belong to the king's household, and no one can touch you there." But he does not think of his own interest and safety. The salvation of his people is what is on his heart... These words show Mordecai's deep conviction: the Jewish people cannot perish. He knew the history of the past and trusted God to find a way out this time also. He believed more than this. God's providence had put her on the throne for one purpose — to bring about the deliverance.
Esther's first reply had been about the danger she faced. Mordecai's answer moves her off that ground. One writer draws out the two characters side by side:
She sees difficulty, and feels dangers; and she speaks, for a time, out of her circumstances. There is nothing wrong in this. She tells Mordecai the risk she would run by going into the royal presence uninvited... But Mordecai advises her as the stronger of the two. He stands above both circumstances and natural affection, for the cause of God and His people... His faith wins the day, and through him she is strengthened. Esther decides to go in to the king.
Her answer, "If I perish, I perish," is a line preachers often borrow for the anxious sinner. One commentator objects:
When the queen said "If I perish, I perish," that was not unbelief. It was the readiness of a martyr, as she was about to fall at the feet of such a tyrant. Does that justify a similar sentiment at the feet of Him who came into the world to save sinners? Who has already said, "whoever comes to me I will never cast out"?
Some readers treat the absence of God's name as a flaw in the book. It is the opposite:
Perhaps there is no more remarkable unfolding of the great truth of divine providence in the Bible. Along with this, notice how the name of God never appears in the book. Some have supposed this to be a defect. In truth, naming God openly as the story ran would have spoiled the book. The main aim is to show His hand working in secret, where no one could rightly proclaim His name. Far from being a fault, this is one of the most strengthening things about the book. We deal with the same secret providence every day.
- Hidden. God is never named in Esther, and Mordecai keeps that pattern. He speaks of the place deliverance comes from, not the person.
- Certain. Behind the throne of a pagan empire, God holds the reins by His providence and cares for His people whatever their condition.
- Placed. Mordecai's conviction was double. His people could not perish, and God had placed Esther on the throne for this very crisis.
- Costly. Esther spoke first from her circumstances. Mordecai's faith strengthened her, and she went in. Her "if I perish, I perish" is martyr courage, not the language of a doubting sinner.
- Ours. The silence that troubles readers is the point. It shows His hand working in secret — and we meet that same providence every day.