Esther 4

< Back to Esther Index


TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Esther Goes Before the King on Behalf of Her People

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. There is a time and place for public protest.

  2. There is a time and place for personal courage.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Can you say, “If I perish, I perish”?

QUESTIONS

  1. Why was Mordecai mourning in sackcloth and ashes?

  2. How far did the Persian Empire expand?

  3. What should our position be toward civil authority?

  4. How does Ecclesiastes 3:7 relate to this passage?

  5. What did Mordecai request Esther to do?

  6. Why was Esther hesitant to do as Mordecai requested?

ANSWERS

  1. When Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, Haman became furious. He learned that Mordecai was a Jew and then manipulated the king into signing a decree to destroy all the Jews in the Persian kingdom on a certain day.

  2. From India to Ethiopia, and as far as Greece

  3. Respect, but not reverence. Mordecai showed this attitude when he refused to bow down to Haman, which would have acknowledged him to be a god.

  4. Ecclesiastes records that there is a time for everything, including tearing your clothes in mourning. Mordecai realized this declaration against the Jews was a time for mourning and a time to speak out.

  5. He asked her to go in to the king and plead to him on behalf of her people, the Jews.

  6. Because the king had not invited Esther into his presence for a month. Anyone who appeared before the king without an invitation was subject to death, unless the king held out his scepter to them.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:7 says there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” Mordecai risked his life to speak out against Haman’s injustice. Are there conditions in society today that you as a believer should speak out against? How are you involved in this time to speak?

  2. Mordecai was confident that the Lord would deliver His people (See Esther 4:13). If Esther had not gone before the king, the Lord could have saved the Jews in another way. But Esther would have missed out on being used by God. Apply this principle to evangelism. We know that all those God has elected to become believers, will believe on Him. You can be part of that process by sharing the gospel with them. If you refuse to share the gospel, God can use someone else, but think of the blessings you would miss out on by refusing to be used by God.

CHALLENGE

  1. We read about Esther’s time and place for personal courage. She met the call and rose to the challenge. Is God calling you to show courage right now? How will you answer the call?

KEY VERSES

  • “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

  • “If I perish, I perish!” Esther 4:16

  • “A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” Ecclesiastes 3:7

Esther, Old Testament, TalksDeb HarmsEsther 4