Esther 4:14 observation & translation

Question

What is your observation on passage Esther 4:14? I need a translation and discussion to understand this passage more. Thank you

Answer 1

You can access and view 43 different translations of this verse in English here. Most of these translations are very similar, and all seem to indicate that "relief and deliverance" will come to the Jews from somewhere. Esther had opportunity to act at that time, but even if she did not act (and subsequently perished), "relief and deliverance" would still come to the Jews from somewhere. This certitude is the only fact in the book of Esther that is not subject to chance or vicissitude.

An accurate English translation for "Purim" would be "craps." Thus "Purim" is akin to "craps" which is a gambling game of dice. So chance and vicissitude are the underlying theme of the book. From the perspective of man the circumstances appear to be pure chance and casual serendipity. Thus neither God nor prayer are ever mentioned in the book. So the story is about evil (antisemitism), and then good, exploiting what appear to be casual random happenstance and rambling circumstances throughout the narrative.

Now let us return to the one certitude of the book. That single certitude of the narrative was the Abrahamic Covenant, which indicated that God would bless those who blessed Abraham, and curse those who cursed him (Genesis 12:3). Isaac passed this same blessing to Jacob and his descendants (Genesis 27:29), and of course the apostate prophet Balaam subsequently recognized that the Israelites who left Egypt carried this direct blessing from God (Numbers 22:12 and Numbers 24:9). Thus Mordecai told Esther that even if he and she died, the Jewish people as a whole would still be delivered by someone somewhere somehow, because the Abrahamic Covenant was inviolate and therefore an actual certitude (unlike everything else). So Mordecai urged Esther to act in faith in concert with this promise, and thus become the instrument to deliver the Jewish people. Again, the story goes on and continues along the lines of pure chance and happenstance, and of course the glorious end is the triumph of the Jews over their enemies.

The key to the book of Esther is therefore the "inviolate and certain" Abrahamic Covenant. Faith and trust in this covenant was the means of the "relief and deliverance" of the Jewish people by both Esther and Mordecai.

Answer 2

The other issue here is that of witness. The people of God go through a number of corporate death-and-resurrections right up until the first century (and beyond, of course). Israel was resurrected from the "grave" of Babylon (Ezek. 37) in order to be a witness to the nations, a priesthood working within the Gentile construct set up by God in Daniel.

Israel at this point was not witnessing, epitomized in Mordecai's unfaithful instruction to Esther to hide her faith and her race.

So Esther, like Israel, would be forced to become a bold witness, in order to become not just a wife but a co-regent, a bride who joins her king in calling down the Covenant curses upon their common enemy.

This process is seen in the book of Revelation, but it goes right back to the Garden of Eden. At least, that is what should have happened. The serpent is crushed and the bride sings a song of victory. The bride represents the burial spices on the fragrant resurrection body (Esther's Hebrew name was myrtle, and the beauty treatment she enjoyed was amazing!).

Just so, Jesus, resurrected in the Garden, tells the women to go and witness.