Women with a Story to Tell. Esther 6. Who Knows?

 “So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?” So said King Theoden of Rohan. “Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them,” answered Aragorn, the returning king of Gondor (Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien). 

 One could ignore the threat and hope that it goes away. With the Nazis, it just got worse. Or, one could find a place to hide and hope that, if trouble comes, one could keep on fleeing from danger. In our days of immediate communication and rapid transportation, danger gets there before we do.

 While Haman and Xerxes sit down to toast their success, the city itself is in turmoil. Neighbors become enemies, friends become foes. In the gates of the great city, Mordecai hears the news. What will he do now that he hears that the Jews have been targeted for destruction? What will Esther do? Aragorn’s counsel is to ride out and confront bigotry head on.  

“When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; he went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. In every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes” (Esther 4: 1-3).  

 This may sound like giving up and crying. It is not. Dressing in sackcloth and walking through the streets wailing loudly is a form of protest. If all the Jews make a public spectacle of themselves, can people ignore it? Some people like to hide the truth, pretend that there is no great corruption and evil in high places. But Mordecai is leading a public protest against the government. His dress and his wailing attract attention as he goes through the city, and certainly he gets the attention of those in power as he ends up in his place of business, the gates of the city. Let everyone hear the protest, disrupt their false sense of peace.  

 Although the book of Esther is a bit odd for not referencing God or using the name of the LORD in it, God’s presence is seen in everything that these observant Jews do. They fast, and the only reason for fasting is to enhance one’s prayers. Instead of eating, they were praying. The wail, and that is a form of crying out to God. Finally, Mordecai has appeared at the entrance to the gate for several reasons. One is to be heard in the city's gathering place. Another is to be seen so a report about him would find its way to his adopted daughter, Queen Esther. 

”When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them” (Esther 4: 4).

 Is Esther embarrassed by Mordecai’s behavior? Perhaps, because she does not know the severity of the issue. Or, perhaps she wants Mordecai to dress properly so that he can come through the gates and talk to her. Either way, Mordecai refuses, probably to emphasize the urgency of the problem. 

“Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and to entreat him for her people” (Esther 4: 5-8).

 It is interesting that this “breaking news” about the governmental conspiracy carried out by Haman and Xerxes has not yet been heard in the harem. Harems of old were known for their involvement in intrigue and plots (For example, Ramses III, Pharaoh of Egypt, was assassinated in 1155 BC in a struggle between two wives who each wanted their son to succeed him). What will Esther’s response be to the news? Will she intercede? Is it safe to do so?

”Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai: ‘All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that, if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law: to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days’” (Esther 4: 9-11).

 Hathach the eunuch must be getting tired of running back and forth, but the matter is important. We learn that there is an obstacle to Mordecai’s plan; Esther cannot just drop in to see the king; on the other hand, she can’t wait. Mordecai must emphasize the urgency and fortify Esther’s courage. 

”When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this’” (Esther 4: 12-14).

“Who knows?” That is still true today. Why have you ended up in the position that you are in? Who knows? What are you supposed to do about it? Who knows? How could that possibly work out? Who knows, but...? 

But if God has put you in this position, the reasonable and faithful thing to do is to resist oppression of the poor and marginalized, to stand up for those who have no voice, and to call out racism and prejudice when you see it. God sees it, and God will do something about it. The only question is, will you be a part of it or stay silent and thus empower the other side? 

Remember the poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller, a founder of the Confessing Church which opposed the German government. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1937 and survived concentration camps to be released in 1945. Here is the poem in a simplified version:

“First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—     

Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—     

Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—     

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—

and there was no one left to speak for me.”