And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, “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, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself 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 house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
Comment: You can’t help loving this woman! She is scared and she tells her Uncle why. You dare not enter the king’s court unless invited, or you got the death penalty. Rarely, but only rarely, the king excused this offence and calls the person to step forward. Although she was the Queen, she had not been invited for a whole month to visit her husband.
Mordecai sends back the reply unless you do something we are all dead, and that includes you and your family! He challenged her when he says “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Esther’s response is a promise to do something but only after she and her carers and all the Jews in the area spend 3 days in prayer and fasting. God working with and through her is her only hope. ‘{f I perish, I perish’ shows the depth of her commitment.
Prayer: May I have this ladies degree of commitment in Your service, O my God.
As I read it! 
Thank you Barry for continuing this story in the Book of Esther. It is a most thrilling tale of intrigue and plots by the “baddies” to kill the “goodies”. But it is a true story. That is the most amazing thing. The old saying “Truth is stranger than fiction” certainly fits this story of Esther and her uncle Mordecai. When Mordecai tells Esther that “she may have been born for such a time as this”, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! Who knows what God has in store for each one of His followers where they will be used for God’s purposes and glory. God bless you.
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