Esther 4:4

ESTHER THE QUEEN GETS A FULL REPORT FROM MORDECAI

"And Esther's maidens and her chamberlains came and tom it her; and the queen was exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take his sackcloth from off him; but he received it not. Then called Esther for Hathach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed, to attend upon her, and charged him to go to Mordecai, to know what this was, and why it was. So Hathach went forth to Mordecai in the broad place of the city, which was before the king's gate, And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money, that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in Shushan to destroy them, and to show it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him, for her people."

"Esther sent raiment to clothe Mordecai ... but he received it not" (Esther 4:4). "Mordecai's refusal to accept the clothing was evidence to Esther that his actions were not caused by personal sorrow, but by an unusually dire public caalamity."[4]

"The exact sum of money that Haman agreed to pay" (Esther 4:7). Throughout the Book of Esther, it is evident that Mordecai had access to any information that he requested; and this mention of that ten thousand talents of silver Haman agreed to pay the king indicates, that regardless of the king's seeming refusal of it, that it became finally a binding part of the agreement. "The most natural interpretation of this is that the king's acceptance of the blood money was part of the transaction."[5]

"The copy" (Esther 4:8). "A copy is the way this reads in the Hebrew, which is correct. Mordecai had made a copy in order to send it to Esther."[6]

"To declare it unto her" (Esther 4:8). This means that Hathach was probably intended to read it to the queen; she might not have known the Persian language.

"Charge her ... to make request, for her people" (Esther 4:8). This means that Hathach, at least, and probably all of Esther's maidens and servants knew that she was a Jewess. Even if she had not told it to them, they would soon have known it through her concern for and interest in Mordecai. The king, however, probably did not learn of it until Esther told him.