Esther 4:3

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Esther 4:3. And many lay in sackcloth and ashes — All day long they fasted, and wept, and lamented; and in the night many lay, not in their beds, but in sack or haircloth strewed with ashes.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-4 Mordecai avowed his relation to the Jews. Public calamities, that oppress the church of God, should affect our hearts more than any private affliction, and it is peculiarly distressing to occasion sufferings to others. God will keep those that are exposed to evil by the tenderness of their consciences.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

None might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth - This law is not elsewhere mentioned; but its principle - that nothing of evil omen is to be obtruded on the monarch - has been recognized throughout the East in all ages.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 4

Es 4:1-14. Mordecai and the Jews Mourn.

1, 2. When Mordecai perceived all that was done—Relying on the irrevocable nature of a Persian monarch's decree (Da 6:15), Hamman made it known as soon as the royal sanction had been obtained; and Mordecai was, doubtless, among the first to hear of it. On his own account, as well as on that of his countrymen, this astounding decree must have been indescribably distressing. The acts described in this passage are, according to the Oriental fashion, expressive of the most poignant sorrow; and his approach to the gate of the palace, under the impulse of irrepressible emotions, was to make an earnest though vain appeal to the royal mercy. Access, however, to the king's presence was, to a person in his disfigured state, impossible: "for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth." But he found means of conveying intelligence of the horrid plot to Queen Esther.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And in every province whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came,.... For destroying the Jews on such a day, in every place where they were to be found:

there was great mourning among the Jews, and weeping, and wailing; which continued all day:

and many lay in sackcloth and ashes: all night; made use of no other bed to lie on, nor clothes to cover them with.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. many lay in sackcloth and ashes] lit. sackcloth and ashes were spread under many.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - And in every province. As fast as the news spread, as province after province received the decree, the Jews spontaneously did as Mordecai had done - everywhere there was great sorrow, shown commonly by fasting, weeping, and wailing, while in numerous instances the mourners even went the length of putting on sackcloth and ashes. Thus an ever-increasing cloud of grief overshadowed the land. GRIEF OF ESTHER. HER COMMUNICATIONS WITH MORDECAI. SHE CONSENTS TO RISK MAKING AN APPEAL TO THE KING (Esther 4:4-17). Esther, in the seclusion of the harem, knew nothing of what the king and Haman had determined on. No one in the palace suspected how vitally she was concerned in the matter, since none knew that she was a Jewess, and state affairs are not commonly discussed between an Oriental monarch and a young wife. It was known, however, that she took an interest in Mordecai; and when that official was seen outside the palace gate in his mourning garb, it was reported to the queen. Not being aware why he grieved, but thinking that perhaps it was some light matter which he took too much to heart, she sent him a change of raiment, and requested him to put off his sackcloth. But Mordecai, without assigning any reason, refused (ver. 4). Esther upon this caused inquiry to be made of Mordecai concerning the reason of his mourning, and in this way became acquainted with what had happened (vers. 5-9). At the same time she found herself called on by Mordecai to incur a great danger, since he requested her to go at once to the king, and to intercede with him for her people (ver. 8). In reply, the queen pointed out the extreme risk which she would run in entering the royal presence uninvited, and the little chance that there was of her receiving a summons, since she had not had one for thirty days (ver. 11). Mordecai, however, was inexorable. He reminded Esther that she herself was threatened by the decree, and was not more likely to escape than any other Jew or Jewess; declared his belief that, if she withheld her aid, deliverance would arise from some other quarter; warned her that neglect of duty was apt to provoke a heavy retribution, and suggested that she might have been raised to her queenly dignity for the express purpose of her being thus able to save her nation (vers. 13, 14). The dutiful daughter, the true Jewess, could resist no longer; she only asked that Mordecai and the other Jews in Susa would fast for her three days, while she and her maidens also fasted, and then she would take her life in her hand, and enter the royal presence uninvited, though it was contrary to the law; the risk should be run, and then, as she said with a simple pathos never excelled, "if I perish, I perish" (ver. 16). Satisfied with this reply, Mordecai "went his way," and held the three days' fast which Esther had requested (ver. 17). Esther 4:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Also in every province whither the king's decree arrived, there arose a great mourning among the Jews. אשׁר מקום is an adverbial accusat. loci in apposition to בּכל־מדינה: in every place to which the word of the king and his decree reached, i.e., arrived. "Sackcloth and ashes were spread for many," i.e., many sat in hairy garments upon the earth, where ashes had been spread; comp. Isaiah 58:5. The meaning is: All the Jews broke out into mourning, weeping, and lamentation, while many manifested their grief in the manner above described.