Outline with Text
J. Deering, AncientPath.net

Quick Links to Chapter Four Paragraph Studies Below

1.  Chapter 4:1-3 "Mordecai's Great Sorrow"

2.  Chapter 4:4 "Esther Sends him a New Suit"

3.  Chapter 4:5-9 "Hatach Reports to Esther"

4.  Chapter 4:10-12 "Esther's Alibi"

5.  Chapter 4:13-14 "Mordecai's Warning and Challenge"

6.  Chapter 4:15-17 "Esther's Courageous Resolve"

THE TEXT WITH OUTLINE:
II. The Jew's Great Deliverance Chapters 4-10
A. The frustration of the plot 4:1-9:19
1. Esther identifies herself with her doomed people 4 (dies in heart purpose)
a. Mordecai's great sorrow 4:1-3

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. And he went as far as the king's gate, for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. And in each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

NOTES: 11 instances (out of 46 in the NASB) of "tore his clothes"

1.    When Ruben could not find Joseph in the well, Genesis 37:29

2.    When Jacob learned that Joseph was missing and his brothers faked the evidence of his death, Genesis 37:34

3.    When Joshua was defeated by the Amorites at AI because of sin in the camp (stolen cult treasures) Joshua 7:6

4.    When Jephthah first saw his daughter coming to him after the battle with the Ammonites - for a burnt offering, Judges 11:35

5.    When David's sister Tamar put ashes on her head & tore here garment over actions by Amnon. Absolom has Amnon put to death at a family gathering, 2 Samuel 13:19

6.    David tears his clothes when he is mistakenly told that all of his sons have been killed, 2 Samuel 13:31

7.    When wayward King Ahab returns to the Lord, 1 Kings 21:27

8.    WhenKing Hezikiah is told by God of the impending Assyrian captivity, 2 Kings 18:32

9.    When Mordecai learn of Haman's treachery, Esther 4:1

10.    When Isaiah encourages Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19:1, 2 Kings 22:11

11.    When Jesus reveals who He is before the High Priest, Matthew 26:64; 14:63

b. Esther sends him a new suit 4:4

Then Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.

c. Hatach reports to Esther 4:5-9

Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king's eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king's gate. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people. And Hathach came back and related Mordecai's words to Esther.

d. Esther's alibi 4:10-12

Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai: "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days." And they related Esther's words to Mordecai.

e. Mordecai's warning and challenge 4:13-14

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews."For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"

f. Esther's courageous resolve 4:15-17

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, "Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish." So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.

NOTES: An interesting study... The 54 (NASB) instances of the reference to "The Third Day."

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