“Who Knows?”Where Is God? - The Tale of Queen EstherLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 9, 2025 :: Esther 4:1-17  
What was troubling Mordecai?
By verse 5 of chapter 4, Queen Esther wants to know. But we already know what is troubling Mordecai: 
The genocide of the Jews has been placed on the calendar.
The people of God are in grave danger. We read last week that Queen Esther’s cousin Mordecai, who had raised her since her parents died, had refused to honor Haman, the enemy of the Jews.
And Haman who had been promoted to the top spot in the kingdom, like a Grand Vizier, had become enraged by Mordecai’s actions and hatched a plot to exterminate all of the Jews. Not just Mordecai and his family, not just the Jews in the capital city of Susa, but the Jews throughout the Persian kingdom from India to Ethiopia which included all of the Jews in Israel.
And this Haman, full of hate, manipulated King Xerxes (also know as Ahasuerus) to hand over to him the executive authority to carry out mass executions.
They rolled the dice. They cast the lot. They cast the “pur.”  And it “just so happened” to land on Adar 13th. Eleven months from now. The clock of death has started ticking down. 
The royal order has been signed on Passover Eve, Nisan 13th, and sent out by couriers to every corner of the kingdom. And it says in all the languages, by irrevocable royal decree of the king of kings in Persia, King Xerxes I, that everyone in this kingdom is ordered “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews–young and old, women and little children–on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods” (Esther 3:13).

The evil genocide of the Jews has been placed on the calendar. That’s what was troubling Mordecai. And it was troubling all of the Jews and even many of their pagan neighbors. 
Last week, we ended with a cliffhanger. While Xerxes and Haman are partying it up and drinking away, the city of Susa was bewildered.
The Persians are wondering what this means for them. Will they have to  kill their Jewish neighbors, young and old? And who is next? If Haman and Xerxes can just purge an entire race, who might be next in line? [I got this insight from Mike Cosper.]
And even more bewildered and terrified are the Jews. What can they do? Can they run away? Can they hide? Can they try to mount a defense? Against all of the Persians, the greatest world power of the day? The kingdom of bronze? The two-horned ram? The bear-like beast? What can the Jews do?
They can mourn. That’s what they can do. They can prepare to die. They can ready themselves for thousands and thousands of funerals. Death looms over them, and they feel it.
And they feel the question, “Where is God?”
Why is He letting this happen?Where did He go?Does He even exist?Why isn’t He doing something?
Where is God?
Have you felt that question? Recently? If you haven’t felt it yet, just wait.
Now, chapter 4 is probably the most famous and familiar chapter in the Book of Esther.
Chances are if you know any line from the Book of Esther, you know one or two from this very chapter. It’s famous for a good reason. (For such a time as this, right?)
Well, that’s all the more reason to remember to pretend as we read that you don’t know what is going to happen. Because the people hearing the story for the first time didn’t know what was going to happen. And a story is almost always better if you don’t know the ending in advance.
But even more importantly, the people in the story did not know what was going to happen!
Mordecai sure didn’t. Mordecai even says (in verse 14) that he doesn’t know. He says the words, “Who knows?”
“Who knows?”
Who knows why this or that has happened?Who knows what is going to happen?Who knows the future?
Mordecai didn’t know what was going to happen, and so he mourned. And he took action.
This chapter is full of courage. We’re going to see real courage on display. 
Real courage is often different from what we expect it to be. Everybody has a mental image of courage, and but real thing doesn’t always look like you might think. 
As we read through this chapter, keep your eyes peeled for real courage.
Like, for example, the courage to be vulnerable.
Mordecai mourns. Look with me at verse 1 of chapter 4.
“When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king's gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it” (vv.1-2).
It think this took courage.
Have you ever been so upset that you tore your clothes? Ruined your good clothes on purpose? That’s what Mordecai did. The Jews did this to express great emotion, and so did the Persians. The historian Herodotus says that the Persians ripped their clothes when they lost their wars to the Greeks. 
And Mordecai went way beyond that. He changed his clothes into scratchy clothes. “Sackcloth” is like scratchy clothes made out of goat or camel hair. So that you may be covered, but you are never comfortable. Your clothes on the outside feel like you do on the inside. In distress.
And he went to his fireplace and smeared ashes all over himself. What a sight! And he didn’t stay at home. He went out into the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. He’s howling.
Have you ever howled in pain and sorrow? I have. When our first daughter died in utero, I wailed in that hospital room. And I did the same when I came back from the scene of Blair Murray’s plane crash.
Mordecai took this wailing into the streets right up to the king’s gate.
Why didn’t he go in? That’s his workplace. He’s got the access codes. Because they had a law that you couldn’t go in there if you were wearing sackcloth. Your access codes don’t work if you are in mourning. The king didn’t want to see that.  Only “shiny happy” people are allowed inside the king’s gate. 
And Mordecai was anything but happy. And neither were any of the Jews. Verse 3.
“In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.”
Many were probably saying, “Where is God?” Some of them were saying, “We are sorry, God.” I’m sure that most of them were saying, “Please help us, God!”
You know, this chapter comes the closest of all of the chapters in the book of Esther to actually naming God and talking about...prayer.
We’ve already learned that the name of God never appears in the Book of Esther. And neither does the word, “prayer” or “pray.” Not once. But there is a word here that is so very often linked to the word “prayer” in the rest of the Bible. What is it?
“Fasting.” Fasting is the deliberate choice to not eat for a good reason. And the reason is often, in the Bible, to express sorrow, heartache, mourning, and...repentance to God. And to put an exclamation mark onto our prayers.
Fasting is like an exclamation mark to our prayers!
These three exact same words, “fasting, weeping, and wailing” appear here in Esther 4 and also in the book of Joel chapter 2, verses 12 through 15 where the Prophet writes, “‘Even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and [wailing].’ Rend your heart and not your garments. [I think he means not just your garments.] Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing...” (Joel 2:12-15a).
Who knows? Perhaps verse 3 is hinting that the Jews were repenting all over the kingdom. And they were asking God to rescue them once again.
Remember, so many of them were still in exile because of the broken covenant. All of them were in distress. And that distress reaches the ears of Queen Esther. Look at verse 4.
“When Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.”
Esther is worried. “He can’t stay out there like that. Why is he dressed like that? He’s so conspicuous like that. He’s drawing attention to himself. I know he doesn’t bow to Haman, but this is going to get every eye in the citadel focused on him. He’s going to get into trouble.” 
Esther is bewildered. She sends down new clean clothes for Mordecai so that he can come inside and maybe then they can talk. But if he’s dressed like that, she can’t come anywhere near him.
Remember, she has been keeping her Jewish identity secret because Mordecai told her to. "Why is he is drawing attention to himself like that?"
Is it possible that Esther has not heard? I think it’s quite possible. Mordecai just found out in verse 1. And Esther is sequestered in the harem. She is sheltered from a lot of what goes on outside in the rest of the kingdom. 
And most people might not have thought to tell her about the king’s edict because why would it affect her? She’s all Persian. They don’t know that she is Hadassah.
But she will soon find out what’s up. She springs into action, calling a trustworthy messenger named “Hathach.” Verse 5.
“Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.”
It’s a good thing Hathach is trustworthy because there have been a number of “bad eggs” in this administration. Remember Bigthana and Teresh from chapter 2?
Hathach is a good go-between, and he will get his steps in running back and forth between the two cousins. Look at verse 6.
And, remember, everybody be ready to drown out the name of Haman with boos and hisses when we reach verse 7. He is only named once in this chapter so we only have one chance to “diss” the enemy of the Jews. V.6.
“So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people” (vv.6-8).
Mordecai lays it all out to Hathach to explain to Esther.
It’s interesting that he gives him a copy of the edict and asks him to explain it to her. It’s quite possible that Esther has never been taught to read. Even though she’s a queen.
Maybe she can read, but Mordecai wants to make sure that she understands. On Adar 13th, all of the Jews are going to be annihilated. Haman has told her husband that the Jews are problematic and need to be exterminated, and he’s told her husband that he will raise 2/3 of the annual kingdom budget by doing this mass murder. And now she knows.
By the way, this is a good reminder to check your sources when you hear bad news. Don’t believe every bad story that you hear, especially online, especially if it’s something that you want to believe, that confirms your prior opinion. We need to deal with facts not rumors and gossip.
Out in the open square, Mordecai lays out the facts for Hathach to lay out for Queen Esther. 
And more than that, Mordecai urges Esther to act. He urges Esther to do the exact opposite of what he has always told her to do up until now. He encourages her to out herself as as Jew and assume her true identity in public before the king.
“[G]o into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.” 
Think about this:
Esther’s own husband almost certainly doesn’t know that she is a Jew. If he did know, it’s not how he thinks about her. He only knows her as Esther, not as Hadassah.
It must have been so hard for Mordecai to give these instructions to Esther. It took courage to go weeping and wailing through the city and out in the open square to lay out the problem and send his beloved Esther whom he has always protected to what might mean her death. Because that’s what Esther hears. Look at verse 9.
“Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, ‘All the king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king’” (vv.9-11).
“You understand, cousin Mordecai, what you are asking me to do? I can’t just waltz in there any time I want. I have to be summoned. He calls for me. I don’t just go to him. And he hasn’t called for me in a month. We’ve been married for five years. He might be getting tired of me and thinking about holding another contest. I’m getting older and he likes them young.”
And we think, why she didn’t just ask for an audience? Why didn’t she go through some official channels to see if it would be okay if she stopped by with a request? Well, who do you think manages the official channels? Probably a guy named Haman.
Here’s the rule. If you come into the king’s presence without being summoned, then you end up like Bigthana and Teresh hanging in the front yard. This protects not just the king’s time but his life. Access to the king is very limited. Unless the king is feeling merciful. And Ahasuerus was not known for his mercy.
Esther doesn’t want to go. This feels like a bad idea. It’s risky. It’s dangerous. Remember what happened to Vashti? This could turn out much worse!
Mordecai knows all that. Mordecai feels all of that. He doesn’t dispute it. But he thinks it’s the less worse choice. And so he urges her in no uncertain terms to be courageous. Verse 12.
“When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: ‘Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?’” (vv.12-14).
That’s one of the greatest speeches in the Bible and in human history. And it marks a turning point in the story. And to think it was sent through intermediaries! Ash-covered Mordecai standing there in his scratchy clothes is, from a distance, trying to persuade Queen Esther to risk it all.
He starts by saying, “Yes, you might die, but you’re probably going die either way. Your Jewishness will come out sooner or later. Your connection with me is known, and I’m out. And soon I’ll be dead. There are no safe choices here. I can’t protect you. In fact, if you remain silent, you and your father’s family will perish. That’s me, I was his brother. We will perish. I can just about guarantee it. You will be siding with Haman against your real people. You will go down."
But notice this little glimmer of hope! Did you catch it? I always focus on “for such a time as this,” and it’s easy to miss the “relief and deliverance” thing. Look closely at verse 14 again.
“...if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place...”
What’s he talking about? Mordecai believes that the Jews are going to be saved. Mordecai believes that the Jews will experience “relief and deliverance.” Maybe not all of them, but enough of them!
He doesn’t say why. He doesn’t have to. We can guess. 
Maybe it’s because there is Someone Who loves them. Maybe it’s because there is Someone Who has promised to preserve them even in exile. Maybe it’s because there is Someone Who has promised to send a Messiah to save them once and for all. And that Messiah must be Jewish Himself.
So, “relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place...” If not from her then from somewhere else.
You see how close He comes to naming the LORD?! He can’t help it. The LORD may be hidden, but He’s still there. And He still has a plan. And who knows? Maybe the plan includes Queen Esther.
Who knows? That’s what Mordecai says. Verse 14.
“And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?'"
Just think about your life, Hadassah. What are the chances that chapter 1 of this tale would happen? What are the chances that chapter 2 of this tale would happen?
How is that you were taken? How is that you have found favor with everyone? How is that you have found favor with the king so many times? If not in the last 30 days? Remember, there is no such thing as coincidence and there is no such thing as chance. But there is a such a thing as providence. 
Who knows? Maybe Somebody has been moving things around (including you and me) for such a time as this, for this particular situation? You have been exalted and embedded into the very palace of the king. I kind of doubt that that’s an accident.”
Now, let me you ask all of you.
Does Mordecai know that Esther is going to save the Jews? No, he most certainly does not. He says, “Who knows?” And the answer to that question is:
#1. WE DON’T.
We sure don’t. 
Mordecai didn’t know what was going to happen. Not down to the details. He believed that the Jews were going to be saved, and he believed that enough that you could say he knew it, but not how and not by whom or not from where. Maybe from Esther. But just maybe. He didn’t know. He didn’t know if she was there to change things or for some other reason or reasons.
Life is like that. There is so much we don’t know. Why are we placed in certain situations? I don’t know. Why are you and I in this family or this church or this job right now? Who knows?
I can guess. Sometimes it will be abundantly clear a least for a moment, especially in retrospect.  But most of the time, it will not. And that’s why so often it will take courage for us to do the right thing.
Because courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is doing the right thing even when you are afraid. Real courage is doing what you think is the right thing even though you don’t know what will happen if you do it.
Like our veterans. When you go off to serve your country, you don’t know if you are coming back. Many do come back, some do not. You don’t know. That’s one of the reasons why we honor you who have served. Thank you once again for your service. Thank you for your courage.
Real courage is often when you don’t know the outcome, and you still do what you believe you should do.
And now is the moment in this story for Queen Esther to choose. Look at verse 15.
“Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ‘Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.’ So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions.”
It’s interesting that verse 14 was the last time in this book that Mordecai was giving the instructions.
Now Esther is. And Mordecai is carrying them out.
Queen Esther comes to the crossroads of her life, the defining moment, and she chooses to be brave.
Esther takes a deep breath and steps up and says, “Ok. Here we go. First things first, let’s all fast. [And you and I know what that means. Wink, wink. The storyteller won’t use the P word, but we know. Three days of no food for any of the Jews. That’s extreme! And no food for Esther and her beauty team? These are the gals who had the special food in chapter 2. Now, they take no food.]
And then Esther will take her life in her hands and go see the king.
And she just knows that she will prevail, right? No. She does not know! She hopes. She prays. She asks others to pray. I mean “fast.” But she doesn’t know what will happen. That’s what makes this courageous.
And that why she’s a great example for every Christian woman and every Christian man and every Christian child. 
“If I perish, well, okay. Then I perish.”
Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego. “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).
We don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. We’re going to do the right thing anyway. Because who knows? Maybe Someone is going to use this to do His thing!
Where do you need to be courageous these days?
Do you need to be more vulnerable? Mordecai really set himself up by putting himself out there in sackcloth and ashes. Crying in public. That’s not a power move. That’s a weakness move. Same thing with fasting. It takes courage to be vulnerable.
To humble yourself before someone who could hurt you–maybe with their words? Maybe with some piece of information about you that you believe you should share, but you’re scared because you don’t know what will happen?
It takes courage to identify with the people of God. Sometimes it takes real courage to tell people that you are a Christian.
“You’re one of those? Okay.”
It takes real courage to not just remain silent. Sometimes it takes real courage to share the gospel with your friend, your neighbor, your co-worker, your family member. Especially if they haven’t asked you for it. Because you don’t know how they are going to react.
“What if they ask a question I don’t the answer to?”
Esther would say, “That’s your big worry? Say, ‘If I don’t know the answer, then I don’t know the answer.’”
“If I perish, I perish.”
You don’t have to almost die to be courageous. You just have to do the right thing not knowing what might happen next. To say the thing that needs said.
Not just the gospel--though that’s the main thing--and the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
But we also sometimes need to say a hard word about lots of other things. Standing up to a bully. Speaking out for the vulnerable.
There are times when we need to confront a loved one about something they are doing that is destructive for themselves or someone else.
And we don’t know how it will be received.
We don’t know.
But we do know that the Lord has placed us in their lives and, maybe, for such a time as this. We are not here by accident. There is no such thing as coincidence and no such thing as chance. That doesn’t mean that we know why we are placed here, but we do know that we have been placed.
Do the thing that only you can do.
Only you are uniquely placed in your situation, whether you got there by pain or by pleasure. By being taken or being favored. For Esther it was both!
Where have you been placed? You might feel like it’s hard to relate to Esther. You haven’t been placed in a palace. But you also haven’t been asked to advocate for all of the Jews in the world either.
Where have you been placed? What power have you been given? Are you using it?
The courageous thing you are supposed to do could seem like a little thing, but it feels risky. Or it could seem really big. Big or small, do it!
Some people act like they are being courageous, but they are really just showing off. We call that “virtue signaling” or “being performative.” The real test of courage is when you don’t know if you will get any “likes” for it. We need to say the thing we should say that could get us into real trouble.
And do the thing we know we should do even if we don’t know what will happen as a result. 
Fear and worry tell us that they know what’s going to happen. “Bad things are going to happen.” Don’t listen to them! They don’t know what’s going to happen.
#2. GOD DOES.
Only God does. 
The Book of Esther doesn’t say His name, but we are allowed to here. We know the One who knows the future. We know that has given us His great and precious promises, and He knows how He will bring them all to pass.
I have this little saying that I use. “I don’t know the future, but I know the One who holds the future in His hands.” And that’s good enough. The Lord knows.
True hope is trusting in God’s promises and His knowledge of how He will work everything out for His glory and our good.
And I think Mordecai had that kind of hope because he said, “[R]elief and deliverance...will arise from another place” with or without Esther’s help.
And that kind of real hope can engender in us real courage.
There is another kind of real courage. And that’s when you absolutely do know that the worst thing is still going to happen even if you do the right thing and you still do the right thing.
That’s the kind of courage that Jesus had. Because unlike Mordecai or Esther, Jesus knew. Jesus knew He was going to perish. His courage was even greater because He knew what was going to happen when He went to the Cross. He was going to die for our sins in our place. He wasn’t going to get out of it at the last second. He was going to endure the pain and the shame.
And then He also knew that He would rise again. So that all of us who put their faith and trust in Him can know our ultimate future, too.
We’re going to leave Esther right here in chapter 4 on the cusp of her courageous move. We know what was troubling Mordecai and why. And now Esther is troubled, too.
Nothing has changed...except for Esther.
The Jews are still scheduled for genocide. The clock of death is still ticking down.  But Esther has made her decision to come out of the shadows and identify herself with them. And she’s stopped eating until she does it. 
She doesn’t know what’s going to happen next. Another cliffhanger! 
And while we wait to find out, we can always start to follow her example.

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Messages in this Series:

01. The King Gave a Banquet - Esther 1:1-22
02. “Hadassah” - Esther 2:1-23
03. "Bewildered" - Esther 3:1-15