For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Parallel Translations
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For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
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For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
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For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish; and who knoweth whether thou art not come to royal estate for such a time as this?'
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Esther 4:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 45:4-8 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” They came near. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be no plowing and no harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
- 1 Samuel 12:22 For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people for himself.
- Deuteronomy 32:36 For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
- Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 30:11 For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
- Matthew 16:18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
- Acts 7:20-25 At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. When he was thrown out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son. Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.
- Ezra 9:9 For we are bondservants; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 46:28 Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says Yahweh; “for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you; but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
- Esther 2:15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked at her.
- Numbers 23:22-24 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God done!’ Behold, a people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
- Isaiah 49:23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”
- Matthew 24:22 Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
- Esther 2:7 He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.
- Amos 9:8-9 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says Yahweh. “For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.
- Isaiah 45:1-5 Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut: “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me,
- Genesis 22:14 Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh Will Provide”. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
- Deuteronomy 32:26-27 I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men; were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted, Yahweh has not done all this.’ ”
- Nehemiah 6:11 I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”
- 2 Kings 19:3 They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘Today is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
- Jeremiah 33:24-26 “Don’t consider what this people has spoken, saying, ‘Has Yahweh cast off the two families which he chose?’ Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.” Yahweh says: “If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then I will also cast away the offspring of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to be reversed and will have mercy on them.”
- Judges 15:6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” They said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” The Philistines came up, and burned her and her father with fire.
- 1 Samuel 17:29 David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, breathing.
Hebrew, breathing.
Thus Mordecai spake in the confidence of that faith which all God’s children ought to have: which is, that God will deliver them, though all worldly means fail.
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For to deliver God’s Church out of these present dangers.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Est 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace…
Est 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, [then] shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for [such] a time as this?
Ver. 14. But if thou altogether boldest thy peace] And so make thyself guilty of a sinful silence, nay, of the death of so many innocents; for not to do good when it is in the power of a man’s hand is to do evil, and not to save is to destroy, as our Saviour showeth, Mar 3:14. Qui non cum potest, servat; occidit. Passive wickedness is deeply taxed in some of those seven Churches, Rev. ii., iii. In a storm at sea it is a shame to sit still, or to be asleep, with Jonah, in the sides of the ship, when it is in danger of drowning. Every man cannot sit at the stern; but then he may handle the ropes, or manage the oars, &c. The self-seeker, the private spirited man, may he be but warm in is own feathers, regards not the danger of the house; he is totus in se, entirely in himself, like the snail, still within doors and at home; like the squirrel, he ever digs his hole towards the sunrising; his care is to keep on the warm side of the hedge, to sleep in a whole skin, to save one, whatever become of the many. From doing thus, Mordecai deterreth Esther by a heap of holy arguments; discovering a heroical faith and a well-knit resolution.
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At this time] There is indeed a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, Ecc 3:7. But if ever a man will speak, let him do it when the enemies are ready to devour the Church: as Croesus’s dumb son burst out into, Kill not King Croesus. "For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest," &c., Isa 62:1. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth," &c., Psa 137:5-6. That noble Terentius (general to Valens the emperor) being bidden to ask what he would, asked nothing, but that the Church might be freed from Arians; and when the emperor, upon a defeat by the Goths, upbraided him with cowardice and sloth as the causes of the overthrow, he boldly replied, Yourself have lost the day, by your warring against God, and persecuting his people (Niceph.).
Then shall their enlargement] Heb. Respiration, a day of refreshing should come from the presence of the Lord. Confer Job 9:18. At present they could hardly breathe, for bitterness of spirit.
And deliverance arise] Heb. stand up, as on its basis or bottom, so as none shall be able to withstand. This, Mordecai speaketh, not by a spirit of prophecy, but by the force of his faith, grounded upon the promises of God’s defending his Church, hearing the cries of his afflicted, arising to their relief and succour, &c. Mira profecto ac omnibus linguis, saeculis, locisque commendabilis fides, saith one. A notable faith indeed, and worthy of highest commendation. Through the perspective of the promises (those pabulum fidei, food of faith) a believer may see deliverance at a great distance (Aσπασαμενοι); see it and embrace it, as those did, Heb 11:13. What though Sense saith, it will not be; Reason, it cannot be; yet Faith gets above, and says, it shall be, I spy land.
Italiam, Italiam laeto clamore salutat (Virg.).
But thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed] Here he thundereth and threateneth her, if to save herself she shall desert the Church. Mordecai’s message, like David’s ditty, is composed of discords. Sour and sweet make the best sauce; promises and menaces mixed will soonest work, Psa 101:1. God told Abraham, that for the love he bare him, he would bless those that blessed him, and curse such as cursed him, Gen 12:3. Their sin should find them out, and they should rue it in their posterity. As one fire, so one fear, should drive out another.
And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom] There is often a wheel within a wheel, Eze 1:16. God may have an end and an aim in businesses that we wot not of nor can see into, till event hath explained it. Let us lay forth ourselves for him, and labour to be public spirited, standing on tiptoes, {Aποκαραδοκια, Php 1:20} as St Paul did, to see which way we may most glorify God, and gratify our brethren.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain From another place; from another hand, and by another…
From another place; from another hand, and by another means; which God can, and I am fully persuaded will, raise up.
Thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed, by the righteous and dreadful judgment of God, punishing thy cowardice and self-seeking, and thy want of love to God, and to his and thy own people.
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Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? It is probable God hath raised thee to this honour for this very season; and therefore go on courageously, and doubt not of the success.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain So Mordecai went his way,.... About the business he…
So Mordecai went his way,.... About the business he was directed to; the word used having sometimes the signification of passing over or transgressing, Jarchi interprets it of Mordecai's transgressing the command, by fasting on a festival; the letter being written on the thirteenth of Nisan, Est 3:12, the next day was the passover, on which he supposes the fast began; and the three days were, the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth of the month, and belonged to the feast of the passover and of unleavened bread; so the Targum:
and did according to all that Esther had commanded him; got the Jews together, and kept a fast three days; according to the Midrash (e) they were the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of Nisan.
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(e) Midrash Esther, fol. 94. 4.
Next: Esther Chapter 5
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain From another place - This was the language of…
From another place - This was the language of strong faith, against hope believing in hope. Who knoweth - It is probable God hath raised thee to this honour for this very season. We should every one of us consider, for what end God has put us in the place where we are? And when an opportunity offers of serving God and our generation, we must take care not to let it slip.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. Then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise]…
Verse 14. Then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise] He had a confidence that deliverance would come by some means; and he thought that Esther would be the most likely; and that, if she did not use the influence which her providential station gave her, she would be highly culpable.
And who knoweth whether thou art come] As if he had said, "Is it likely that Divine providence would have so distinguished thee, and raised thee from a state of abject obscurity, merely for thy own sake? Must it not have been on some public account! Did not he see what was coming? and has he not put thee in the place where thou mayest counteract one of the most ruinous purposes ever formed?" Is there a human being who has not some particular station by an especial providence, at some particular time, in which he can be of some essential service to his neighbour, in averting evil or procuring good, if he be but faithful to the grace and opportunity afforded by this station? Who dares give a negative to these questions? We lose much, both in reference to ourselves and others, by not adverting to our providental situation and circumstances. While on this subject, I will give the reader two important sayings, from two eminent men, both keen observers of human nature, and deeply attentive in all such cases to the operations of Divine providence: -
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"To every thing there is a season; and a time to every purpose under heaven. Therefore withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it.
SOLOMON.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows, and in miseries.
SHAKESPEARE.
Has there not been a case, within time of memory, when evil was designed against a whole people, through the Hamans who had poisoned the ears of well-intentioned men; in which one poor man, in consequence of a situation into which he was brought by an astonishing providence, used the influence which his situation gave him; and, by the mercy of his God, turned the whole evil aside? By the association of ideas the following passage will present itself to the reader's memory, who may have any acquaintance with the circumstance:-
"There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man!"
"Then said, I, Ah, Lord God! They say of me, DOTH HE NOT SPEAK PARABLES?" Rem acu tetigi.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain From another place - i. e. “from some other…
From another place - i. e. “from some other quarter.” Mordecai probably concluded from the prophetic Scriptures that God would NOT allow His people to be destroyed before His purposes with respect to them were accomplished, and was therefore satisfied that deliverance would arise from one quarter or another.
Thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed - i. e. “a divine vengeance will overtake thee and thine, if thou neglectest thy plain duty.” Though the name of God is not contained in the Book of Esther, there is in this verse a distinct, tacit allusion to God’s promises, and to the direction of human events by Divine Providence.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Occasion. Wonderful confidence! Greek, "if thou wilt not hearken…
Occasion. Wonderful confidence! Greek, "if thou wilt not hearken (Calmet; to me; (Haydock) or, if thou obstinately despise) at this time, the Jews shall be assisted and protected by some," &c. (Haydock) --- As this. So Joseph was raised up in Egypt, (Calmet) that he might save all his family. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14. Enlargement — רוח, breathing room; freedom from restraint.…
14. Enlargement — רוח, breathing room; freedom from restraint. Compare the kindred word rendered respite in Exo_8:15.
Deliverance arise… another place — Note the faith of Mordecai. He is confident his nation cannot perish. Help will come from some quarter.
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Who knoweth? — Mordecai discerns a divine providence in Esther’s attaining to the royal dignity. God had elevated her to a position in which she might be the principal agent in effecting the salvation of her people, and hence she is warned that if she fails in the duty of that hour, Divine vengeance will most surely fall on her and all her father’s house.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. relief] A.V. enlargement, a word now obsolete in…
14. relief] A.V. enlargement, a word now obsolete in the sense of relief or deliverance. It does not occur elsewhere in the A.V., but we find the corresponding verb, meaning to set at large, to give freedom to move without obstruction, in 2Sa_22:37 (= Psa_18:36) (‘Thou hast enlarged my steps under me’); Psa_4:1 (‘Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress’). For the same use of the verb in Old English compare
“Thrice hath this Hotspur …
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Discomfited great Douglas, ta’en him once,
Enlarged him.…”
I Henry IV. iii. 2. 115.
“Enlarge the man committed yesterday.”
Henry V. ii. 2. 40.
from another place] not meaning simply from some human source, as when Judas Maccabaeus sent an embassy to Rome to ask aid against Greek oppression (1Ma_8:17), or later, when his brother Jonathan applied in the same quarter and for the same object (1Ma_12:1). The reference here, though veiled after the reticent fashion of this Book, is to the Divine agency, whether working through earthly means or not. Israel cannot perish.
but thou and thy father’s house shall perish] Her inactivity would involve not only herself but her family in ruin. Thus she has nothing to hope from that alternative. It ensures her death; the other course but risks it.
who knoweth whether] = perhaps. Cp. the same expression in Joe_2:14; Jon_3:9.
whether thou art not come] A.V. whether thou art come. It is true that the ‘not’ has no literal equivalent in the original Hebrew, but still the R.V. is a more accurate translation of the exact sense. Mordecai means, We cannot say that Providence has not shaped thy fortunes to this very end, and given thee a position enabling thee to deliver thy whole nation in the impending crisis.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14) Enlargement.—Literally, a breathing-space.
(14) Enlargement.—Literally, a breathing-space.
From another place.—Although he does not explain his meaning, and, indeed, seems to be speaking with studied reserve, still we may suppose that Mordecai here refers to Divine help, which he asserts will be vouchsafed in this extremity. It does not necessarily follow that we are to see in this declaration a proof of the earnestness of Mordecai’s faith; probably had his faith been like that of many of his countrymen he would not have been in Persia at all, but with the struggling band in Judæa.
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Thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed.—That is, by the hand of God, who having raised thee to this pitch of glory and power will require it from thee, if thou fail in that which it plainly devolves upon thee to do. It is clear there is a good deal of force in these last words of Mordecai. Esther’s rise had been so marvellous that one might well see in it the hand of God, and if so there was clearly a very special object in view, which it must be her anxious care to work for. In the whole tone of the conversation, however, there seems a lack of higher and more noble feelings, an absence of any suggestion of turning for aid to God; and thus in return, when God carries out His purpose, and grants deliverance, it seems done indirectly, without the conferring of any special blessing on the human instruments.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then shall there enlargemt, or respiration (marg. literally, "breath"),…
Then shall there enlargemt, or respiration (marg. literally, "breath"), and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. Mordecai is confident that God will not allow the destruction of his people. Without naming his name, he implies a trust in his gracious promises, and a conviction that Haman"s purpose will be frustrated; how, he knows not, but certainly in some way or other. If deliverance does not come through Esther, then it will arise from some other quarter. But thou and thy father"s house shall be destroyed. A denunciation of Divine vengeance. Though the nation will be saved, it will not benefit you. On you will fall a just judgment having endeavoured to save your life, you will lose it and your "father"s house will be involved in your ruin. We may gather from this that Esther was not Abihail"s only child. Who knoweth, etc. Consider this also. Perhaps (who knows?) God has raised you up to your royal dignity for this very purpose, and none other, that you should be in a position to save your nation in this crisis.
Enlargement and deliverance.
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What a sublime confidence is apparent m this language of Mordecai to Esther! He took a very different mode of reasoning and persuasion from what might have been expected. Why did he not say, My only hope, the only hope of the nation, is in thee; if thou fail us we are undone? Because he believed Israel"s salvation to be dear to Israel"s God. This led him to put the matter thus: "If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.
I GOD, IN HIS PROVIDENCE, OFTEN ACCOMPLISHES GREAT WORKS BY THE HANDS OF HUMAN AGENTS.
II IF THE LIKELIEST FAIL, THEN THE UNLIKELIEST WILL BE RAISED UP AND EMPLOYED.
III ALL THINGS AND POWERS THAT ARE ADVERSE NOTWITHSTANDING, THE PURPOSES OF GOD SHALL CERTAINLY BE FULFILLED.
IV IT IS A GREAT PRIVILEGE TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY OF CARRYING OUT THE PLANS OF THE ALL-WISE. Especially is this so when we have the means of bringing enlargement and deliverance to the people of God. See to it that you do not mistake the "time to speak" for the "time to be silent.
The purpose of power.
is a watchword of modem intellectual warfare. "Cause" and "purpose" are words that awaken keenest intellectual strife. Thinkers are divided into those who believe that the will is the cause of human acts, and that many of those acts are evidence of purpose; and those who believe our acts to be the necessary results of physical antecedents acting upon our nervous system. And those who do not believe in human purpose naturally enough have no belief in Divine purpose. According to them mind counts for nothing as a factor in the universe. Believing in purpose, both human and Divine, we may nevertheless be on our guard against dogmatically affirming that this and that event is evidence of the intention of Heaven. Purpose is in the life of man; yet when we endeavour to fathom its mysteries, it is well that we should propose the question with the moderation and tentativeness which characterised the language of Mordecai: "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
I THERE ARE EVIDENCES OF DIVINE PURPOSE IN THE LIFE OF MEN GENERALLY. Whatever doubt we may have of individual cases, however much we may be influenced by our own prejudices and fancies in judging of such cases, it scarcely admits of doubt that human life has a reason for its existence and for its opportunities. Especially in reading the biographies of great and good men we are impressed with this belief. And what strength does it impart to a man to believe that God has a work for him to do. Divine purpose may be wrought out by unconscious agents.
There"s a Divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will!
II PROVIDENCE SOMETIMES MAKES IT CLEAR WHAT THE DIVINE PURPOSE IS. Observe the expression: "such a time." A crisis is observable in the life of most men. An opportunity opens up. The vocation is made apparent, or rather audible. A relationship is appointed. A service is required. God"s finger is visible, and he is heard saying, "This is the way; walk ye in it!
III AT.SUCH TIMES THERE IS IMPOSED A SACRED RESPONSIBILITY. The call of Providence may be disregarded. Through negligence, or fear, or distrust persons may shrink from responding to the requirement of Heaven. But at how fearful a cost! On the other hand, to have wrought the work of God is to have lived not in vain. And Divine grace is sufficient for us.
Practical lessons:
1. Study the indications of God"s will. Ask, "Lord, what wilt thou have meto do?
2. Follow the leadings of God"s providence. Say, "Lead, Lord, and thy servant shall be found in thy steps!
Discerning opportunities.
knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" We can imagine Esther saying to herself, "Away with all my cowardice, my weak-heartedness. Why should I fear to go and plead for my people?" She says to herself, "Can I be so unworthy of my descent as an Israelite? Will God forsake me when striving to save and serve his chosen people? Come, O thou that leddest thy people as a flock, and lead me now to a prosperous ending of my hazardous work! O thou that didst break the power of Pharaoh, restrain that of our enemy! O thou that didst go forth with Joshua and help him by hailstorms from heaven against the Amalekites, unsheathe thy sword against this Agagite, this Haman who seeks our hurt! Cause me, O God, like Miriam, to praise thee in gladsome song because the enemy and his designs are alike overthrown. Unworthy am I to be an instrument in thine hands; yet, if I come to the kingdom for such a time as this, make me ready to do thy will.
I OPPORTUNITIES FOR DOING GOOD COME TO CHRISTIANS IN EVERY PLACE. They can benefit their family, the nation, or the Church.
II Opportunities of doing good SHOULD BE SEIZED, Gone, they may have passed for ever. Generally the opportunities of doing the greatest good are brief. The time of the death edict is approaching.
III If opportunities are neglected it is well to have REMINDERS. Parents, friends, or ministers may be as reminding Mordecais.
IV The thought that an opportunity is SPECIALLY GIVEN BY GOD FOR SERVING HIM has a great effect in leading to the performance of duty. H.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER Ver. 14.
The suggestion for the hour.
knoweth whether the art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? The history is very easily understood as carried forward in the preceding thirteen verses of this chapter. The faith of Mordecai does not always seem at its best, and his apparent suspicion of Esther (ver. 14) seems scarcely in close accord with the thought that "deliverance will arise to the Jews" from some quarter. Probably he felt that it was his to use all the means, to let nothing go by default, and to tax himself with a hundredfold earnestness of effort, since by his conduct it was that the present calamity had found its occasion. And, on the other hand, one cannot but notice and admire how his mind evidently searched all round for the providence of the God of himself and his people. This it is which transpires in this passage, "And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" We may forget awhile the relation which existed between Mordecai and Esther; for it is neither teacher nor taught that need monopolise attention, though in this case they naturally attract it. But let us notice
I THE EXACT POSITION WHICH NEEDED STIMULATING HELP AND DIRECTION.
1. It was one that could not have been calculated for or provided against. Itwas unforeseen, and it would have been unreasonable to exact that it should have been foreseen. As matter of fact, Mordecai"s stored memory might possibly have been able to produce historical instances of atrocities in their outside like the present. But, even then, not as the result of the offence of one unimportant individual offered to one courtier. The hand of Mordecai had indeed touched a spring which set going unexpected machinery of fearful kind to unexpectedly threatening effect. But the touching of that spring was not an idle act. It was not an accidental or an inquisitive act. It was better even than an innocent act. For it was right and brave, and full of moral courage. Of the many times we find ourselves involved in perplexity, in unexpected danger, how often can we say as much as this?
2. It was one involving the tenderest considerations. Apprehensions were indefinitely intensified by the interests of incalculable moment which were known to be concerned. Hearts inexpressibly dear, lives innumerable, and invested now more than ever with an awful and mysterious sacredness, were in question. These were the very things to unedge discernment and to unnerve purpose.
3. It was an occasion, the whole weight of which showed now as ifgathering into one bulk, and moving over the head and anxious heart of one woman. It is apparent throughout, even when Mordecai seems to urge Esther, and not to pity, that her one. her only unresting desire was to know the rightest, best course to take. She was already a gilded victim, a captive bird that had ever most of all loved freedom, a prisoner in fetters, not less fetters because each link was of wrought gold. How could she tune her harp, and sweep its strings, and sing her song in that strange place? Yet he who loved her dearest and most prised all that she was, helpless to resist the rapacity of those who rifled his honest threshold, kept as near as possible to that prison of a palace, that it was, which held her. (Est_2:11) He found in his heart the undying seed of some faith, and some inexplicable hope, that there was possibly a reason in it all, and a use for it all, and that "somehow good would be the final goal of ill" so hard to bear. In all the inimitable brevity of Scripture, what a tale of love and loss, and of the hanging on to uncertain hope, escapee from within these fewest words! And was it she, the object of this tender solicitude, who was competent to bear the overhanging load of responsibility, and the brunt of blame, in case of failure? Stouter hearts and of sterner stuff than all with which we can credit Esther would collapse before the prospect.
4. It was an occasion distracted by aggravating contradictions. If all is todepend on Esther, as she is now urged to believe, there was every motive for action, but overwhelming reasons for inaction. Love, apparent duty, urgent expostulation, the pressure of beloved command, the impetus of long habits of obedience, all pointed one way, and said one thing. But it was not the merely slothful man"s lion in the way that bid her beware of that way, and think of another. No; it was reason, by the dictates of which men not only rightly act, but also rightly abstain from acting. It was calmness of judgment, the more to be admired because the circumstances were enough to unbalance almost any judgment. It was matter of knowledge with Esther, and of universal consent in addition, that the peril was what none but the madman, or the desperate, or the extremity of despair itself would dare to face. Can this be defended then as just ground for moral action, when there are ten thousand chances against you, and what you endanger is your all? There can be no doubt as to the right answer to this, except for the occasion, the emergency of which lies in the fact that some advance must be made. Those passages of life, far from unknown to us, which are of this kind still present the most trying problems of our whole history.
II THE EXACT POSITION WHICH THE INSTRUCTOR TOOK.
1. It was one that seemed hard, that inclined to the unfeeling. This isexactly what a teacher"s position must not unfrequently seem, seem without being so. Even to those who overhear, his tones sound sharp and quick, just as those of Mordecai do now to us. We must do justice to Mordecai. We may justly suppose that he knew the circumstances precisely, the mental character of Esther precisely, the precise point of the dangerous way where she would need a moment"s quick help, the momentary stimulus of the master"s sharp summons, lest she should yield. "Even as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty." Mordecai knew that history, and dared not take for granted that his Esther was better, safer, stronger than God"s Eve. The luxurious palace of Persia was a poor travesty of the charms of Eden, but it had its seductions. And there was no knowing where the serpent did not lurk.
2. It was one that applied itself to move at once that whole description ofhindrance to right action which arises from self-regard. This is a native principle, one of the greatest significance, of essential and unnumbered uses. The vast mass of humanity could never be moved along of any external force whatsoever; but this Divine contrivance, this merciful provision a spring of energy and action in each and every unit of which the mass is made throws life into it. The unwieldy loses its unwieldiness, its movements are determined, and its advance is irresistible. Valuable, however, as this principle of self-regard, it easily oversteps a certain border-line. All the indications with regard to Esther look another way. She has self-regard, she is the opposite of selfish. At first the tone of Mordecai seems somewhat out of harmony, however, with this supposition. But, on the other hand, it is quite open to us to believe that he had no individual suspicion of Esther. He distrusted not her, but the extreme peril of the situation for human nature. His well-versed knowledge, by experience and by observation, of the dangerous points where human nature was liable to the most sudden and disastrous breakdowns made him tremble for the Esther he loved so well. These two things he knew: first, that there was in sight a certain powerful assault of temptation for Esther; secondly, that one of the grandest achievements of any shepherd of souls is when he cuts off the enemy"s approach by the simple method of preventing the object of attack from straying away alone.
3. Last of all, when these negative preparations were made a great step inadvance is taken. We will suppose that Mordecai had done some little violence to his own feelings and affections, for he had not been accustomed before to use such peremptory tones or personal arguments to Esther. But it was worth while to take some pains, in order to prepare for the moment that was coming. The moment had come. He plies his last argument. He knows it is his best by far. He watches for its effect, but without much doubt as to what it would be. From the lower arguments of policy, of appeal to feeling, of memory dishonoured, he crosses over to religious appeal. It scarcely amounted to appeal. It was a fruitful hint. Let it fall in the right soil, and fertile as the soil, so fruitful would the seed be. A woman"s discernment is notably quick, and her sight intuition, and the eye of Esther opened and met the eye of Heaven falling on her and on all her anxiety. This eye, like that of a portrait, followed her now everywhere. And timid, baffled, almost numb faith felt its own hand again, and reached it forth to that which was offered to it. This was the suggestion that solved the problem, exiled hesitation, and decided that action should get the better of inaction, who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? B.
HOMILIES BY D. ROWLANDS Ver. 14.
Providence and human agency.
We are very apt to under-estimate the value of our own lives. When we contemplate the countless worlds which constitute the universe, the countless ages which make up duration, how unspeakably insignificant do we and our affairs appear l But we must not be misled by such reflections. Even as the presence of the least particle conceivable affects all material existence, so the most insignificant human life influences in some measure the eternal course of events. Mordecai wished to impress Esther with a due sense of her own responsibility. She was not an ordinary individual, but a queen; she was allied to the man who swayed the destinies of nations; her position invested her with boundless power for good or evil. The time had come when she must either act in a manner becoming her resources, must use the opportunities at her disposal to save her people, or incur the guilt of neglecting her duty at the most momentous crisis. As a Jew, Mordecai believed in Providence, but not in a Providence that weakened human responsibility. Let us consider the main points emphasised here.
I THAT PROVIDENCE IS INDEPENDENT OF HUMAN AGENCY. "For if thou altogether boldest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place." These words suggest
1. That Providence is a well-established fact. The confidence of Mordecai was doubtless begotten of a conviction that God governs the affairs of men. To him this was not a matter of speculation; for, apart from the teaching of reason, he enjoyed the light of revelation, and was familiar with the wonderful history of his people. Some profess to derive comfort from their atheism. They rejoice to think that there is no God; or, if there be one, that he has left the world to manage for itself. As well might the passengers in a railway train be jubilant because they had got rid of the engineer, and were left to the mercy of an unguided locomotive.
2. Tidal the designs of Providence are never thwarted. The Jews had not yet fulfilled their mission. The great Deliverer of mankind who was to come out of Judah had not appeared. Mordecai knew that until the Divine purposes were accomplished the nation could not be destroyed. Hence the sublime assurance of his speech. The Jews had passed through a similar crisis before, when Pharaoh pursued them through the Red Sea. Profane history abounds with like instances. The Greeks were about to be. crushed by the iron heel of the invader when they won the battle of Marathon. The English nearly lost their independence through the Spanish Armada, which the tempest scattered to the four winds of heaven. We should never be bowed down by calamities. If we are children of the great Father we need not fear. Above, beneath, and around us there are unseen powers which steadily carry out his eternal decrees.
3. That Providence is the refuge of the oppressed. To no other power could the Jews have appealed in their dire distress. The wealth, and rank, and influence of the greatest empire in the world were against them. We need not wonder if they gave way to despair. But the God of Abraham had arranged for their sure deliverance. The labours of legislators, philanthropists, and divines had been powerless to release the negro race in the United States of America from their intolerable bondage. Their wrongs seemed to multiply, and their fetters to be more securely fastened, as the years rolled on. But an incident as terrible as it was unexpected the civil war led them to liberty. Let the oppressor tremble, and the oppressed be encouraged; for the triumph of might over right cannot be permanent.
II THAT PROVIDENCE AVAILS ITSELF OF HUMAN AGENCY. "But thou and thy father"s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Providence is not a synonym for fate. While it employs human agency, it never interferes with individual liberty; it leaves every man accountable for his conduct, whether of omission or commission. The words of Mordecai imply
1. That Providence places men in certain positions for definite ends: "Who knoweth," etc. The supposition in this case was natural. The elevation of Esther, just before the threatened destruction of the Jews, was most significant. It pointed out to her the way of duty with unmistakable precision. Are we in difficulties as to what our own life-work may be? If so, it must be due to want of reflection. Rulers and subjects, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, have their distinct spheres of action in reference to material interests; their work is cut out for them, so to speak, by the very circumstances in which they are placed. In like manner we might nearly always answer the question, "Lord, what wilt thou have us to do?" by answering another question far less profound, "What can we do?
2. That Providence chastises men for their unfaithfulness. "But thou and thy father"s house shall be destroyed." Mordecai felt certain that if Esther failed to do what lay in her power to avert the coming calamity she would be singled out for retribution. To be in a position of influence at the very time when that influence could be turned to such a noble account, and yet remain culpably inactive, would have been to invite the reproaches of men and the anger of God. Deliverance would doubtless have arisen from another quarter, and in that case she might have persuaded herself that her own efforts were superfluous; but the sophistry which so easily deluded her own mind would have been powerless to arrest the course of righteous punishment. The ways of Providence are very mysterious; things come to pass in the most inexplicable manner; but we need not be baffled thereby. What is to be will be, in spite of our negligence, in spite of our indolence, in spite of our opposition; but woe be to us, for all that, if we fulfil not the duties of our position. In the checking of war, in the progress of civilisation, in the diffusion of knowledge, in the advancement of religion, we have each his allotted share, and there is a tribunal before which we must all answer for the manner in which we acquit ourselves. The Jews in the time of Deborah and Barak triumphed over their enemies, but Meroz was not therefore excused for its cowardly inactivity. "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the…
Est_4:14
Then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.
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Female deliverers in Israel
In former ages women, as Deborah and Jael, had been made the instruments of saving Israel. Esther might have a place among those whose memories, after so many generations, were still fragrant among their countrymen. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Enlargement and deliverance
Enlargement and deliverance will arise to the Jews, to the Israel of God, under the gospel as well as under the law. Amidst all the distresses of the Church, we may rest assured that she cannot perish. All, therefore, who perform eminent services to the Church ought humbly to thank the Lord for choosing to employ them rather than others; for He is never at a loss for servants to do His work. (G. Lawson.)
And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?--
The use of talents to be accounted for
A man who knows a particular remedy for a certain disease, of which others are ignorant, would be chargeable with the fatal consequences that may arise from the general ignorance if he locks up his knowledge within his own breast. If Providence furnish us with talents which are not granted to others, we must account for our use of them. If we have opportunities of doing much good which others have not, and make no use of them, we make ourselves guilty of a crime which can be charged upon none but ourselves. (G. Lawson.)
Services suitable to our situation required by God
If God has done remarkable things for us, we have reason to believe that He expects some services from us suited to the situation in which He has placed us, and to the means of service with which He has furnished us. We ought, therefore, when we consider what God hath done for us, to consider at the same time what He requires from us. If our circumstances are peculiar it is likely that some peculiar services are required. (G. Lawson.)
The time for usefulness
Our times are in the Lords hands. He fixes the bounds of our habitations and arranges our conditions according to His own will. His servants have a special earthly calling wherein they are called, the duties of which they are individually to fulfil. He has particular relative objects to secure in the exaltation of those whom He loves. And when any of His servants are raised to influence, or wealth, or power, it is that He may make them effective instruments of His power for blessing to others. There is, therefore, a special propriety of time at which His gifts of power and influence are bestowed upon particular men. If one is made rich, it is because there are many poor waiting to be enriched by him, and he is to have the greater blessing of imparting, giving to his fellow-men. There is a particular reason, could we know it, for which we are come to the kingdom for such a time. We should study our duty in the circumstances of its time. Every virtue and trait of holiness in her character shines with increasing brightness and beauty as Esther goes forward in her appointed dispensation. Let us consider the circumstances of the time,
1. It was a time of great trial for the people of Israel.
2. The time tested the sincerity of Esthers affection for Mordecai, and brought that into immediate demonstration.
3. The time also tried the sincerity of Esthers affection for her nation. The truly pious heart will cherish an universal love. The wants and sorrows of all mankind are the subjects of its sympathy and its concern. But true religion especially exalts and enlarges domestic love, and love for our country and nation. The more truly the heart is engaged for God the more earnestly will it feel the sorrows and needs of those who are near to us. Have we wealth? We have those connected with us who are poor and suffering. Have we station or knowledge? It is no Christian heart which has no fellowship in suffering and no tenderness for woe. Yet we sadly see a hardness of heart often attendant on exalted conditions. Men seem to feel that they have been elevated by their own efforts, and that inability to do the same in others is in some degree a crime which ought to be punished by suffering. They invent every possible excuse for withholding their demanded aid.
4. The time displayed her entire disinterestedness of spirit, and her trust in God. She resolved to put the request of Mordecai into immediate operation. Mere self-indulgence would have delighted in her own state of luxury and enjoyment, and have shut her ears and her heart against the cries and woes of her people. To preserve this people she must hazard her own life. Beautiful is this illustration of a disinterested and devoted spirit. I am content to perish to gain the great end of blessing to others which I have before me. Such was the love of our Divine Redeemer for us. For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross and despised the shame. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
A human voice speaks Divine lessons for human lives
What are the Divine lessons which this human voice speaks, not only to Esther, but to every true soul.
I. That great advantages are conferred for a divine purpose. Talents, position, influence, wealth.
II. That God requires that such advantages should be faithfully used for the promotion of his purposes.
III. That such divine purposes cannot be frustrated.
IV. Those who frustrate divine purposes shall be injured.
V. Learn that a faithful discharge of duty must bring rich Results. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
Esthers exaltation; or who knoweth
I shall lay out my sermon under four words.
I. Hearken!
1. To a question. Brother, will you separate your interests from those of your people and your God? Do you mean to say, I shall look to my own salvation, but I cannot be supposed to take an interest in saving others? In such a spirit as that I do not say you will be lost, but I say you are lost already. It is as needful that you be saved from selfishness as from any other vice.
2. To a second question: If you could separate your interests from those of the cause of God, would you thereby secure them?
3. Remember, for your humiliation, that God can do without you.
4. As God can do without us, it may be He will do without us.
5. How will you bear the disgrace, if ever it come upon you, of having suffered your golden opportunities to be despised?
II. Consider--
1. To what some of you have been advanced.
2. Why the Lord has brought you where you are.
3. At what a time it is that you have been thus advanced.
4. Under what special circumstances you have come where you are.
5. With what singular personal adaptations you are endowed for the work to which God has called you.
III. Aspire. Who knoweth, etc. When Louis Napoleon was shut up in the fortress of Ham, and everybody ridiculed his foolish attempts upon France, yet he said to himself, Who knows? I am the nephew of my uncle, and may yet sit upon the imperial throne, and he did so before many years had passed. I have no desire to make any man ambitious after the poor thrones, etc., of earth, but I would fain make you all ardently ambitious to honour God and bless men.
IV. Confide.
1. If thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this, be con fident that thou art safe.
2. If God has a purpose to serve by a man, that man will live out his day and accomplish the Divine design. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The duty of the hour
(to an agricultural college):--This exemplifies a truth of universal application and of particular pertinency. The idea is that the general welfare is best promoted by the advancement of the individual, while the advancement of the individual can be maintained only by his loyal devotion to the public weal. We have discovered in these latter days that relations are of more moment than things. Charcoal, sulphur, nitre are things of some potency, in themselves considered; but they must be brought into the proper relations, the one to the other, before the might of gunpowder shakes the earth. I observe--
1. That the college graduate of to-day, who has completed a four years course of liberal training in a well-equipped and thoroughly-manned institution of learning comes into a kingdom.
2. The college graduate of to-day comes into his kingdom at a time of marvellous and portentous significance.
3. Our time, with its sudden transitions, is fraught with danger to all classes of society, but to none more than to those who till the soil. (C. S. Walker, Ph. D.)
The principles of Divine providence
I. That the providence of God is concerned about the highest good of man. This is shown--
1. In the advent of Christ for the worlds salvation.
2. The spread of the gospel and the conversion of the Gentiles.
3. The restoration of peace between nations and the final destruction of slavery.
II. The highest good of man is secured independently of mans individual conduct. The stream of human agency is like a river, ever flowing and ever changing. One drop in the stream cannot say, When I am gone the channel will be dry. No sooner is room made than another follows, and the channel is ever full. So it is in the history of man. Gods providence will secure workers.
III. That men are placed by God in such positions that they may secure for themselves the honour of helping god in his providential work.
IV. In not making use of our providential position we expose ourselves to fearful evils.
V. That in making use of our providential positions, we shall require special qualifications, and shall have the sympathy and co-operation of a holy universe, as well as the commendation and blessing of god. Notice--
1. That in doing our duty we show the possession of the highest and noblest moral qualities.
(1) Duty done under the pressure of difficulty is done by faith in God, and is therefore a proof of piety.
(2) Duty done in difficulty requires a self-sacrificing disposition.
(3) Duty done amid difficulties requires consummate skill.
(4) In doing duty no time should be lost.
2. That in doing our duty we have the help of a holy universe (Est_6:1). (Evan Lewis.)
The preservation of the Jews an illustration of the Divine government
The text presents for our consideration--
I. A firm conviction of an overruling providence.
II. The recognition of human instrumentalities in the divine government.
III. The principle of self-sacrifice which enables men to re acceptable instruments in the divine government. (Prof. E. J. Wolf, D. D.)
Position and responsibility
Our Lords great principle, Unto whom much is given of him shall much be required, is clear as a mathematical axiom when we look at it in the abstract; but nothing is harder than for people to apply it to their own cases. If it were freely admitted, the ambition that grasps at the first places would be shamed into silence. If it were generally acted on, the wide social cleft between the fortunate and the miserable would be speedily bridged over. The total ignoring of this tremendous principle by the great majority of those who enjoy the privileged positions in society is doubtless one of the chief causes of the ominous unrest that is growing more and more disturbing in the less favoured ranks of life. If this supercilious contempt for an imperative duty continues, what can be the end but an awful retribution? Was it not the wilful blindness of the dancers in the Tuileries to the misery of the serfs in the fields that caused revolutionary France to run red with blood? (W. F. Adeney, M. A.)
Gods purpose and mans opportunity
I draw from the text the following general truths:
I. That running through the providence of this world there is a gracious divine purpose for its ultimate salvation.
1. Mordecai believed in the indestructibility of the Jews. This was with him evidently a religious faith. This faith must have been founded on one or more of the promises of God.
2. This purpose of the preservation of the Jews is but a branch and a sign of another and grander purpose--a purpose to gather and save the whole world. This types itself in the kingly history; gleams in the prophets vision; breathes in the holy psalm; speaks out in the Acts of the Apostles; runs through all the epistles, and sighs up to heaven in that last apocalyptic cry, Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
II. That rich and rare opportunities occur in the progress of things, by which believing men are allowed to come effectually to the help of the lord against the mighty. We must spread the gospel or lose it. Our moral opportunities, our seasonable times for action, are very precious, are very brief, and when they are gone they cannot be renewed. So it is at times with Churches, with societies, and with nations.
III. That the neglect of such providential calls has a tendency to bring destruction. Mordecai probably had in view a general principle of retribution, acting at all times, but sure to act swiftly and terribly in a case like this. This principle has its fullest application to the ungodly. The way, the hope, the expectation, the works, the memory, and saddest of all, the soul of the wicked shall perish. Let a Christian man neglect opportunities and hold truth in unrighteousness, and what will happen to him? He perishes as to the real power of his life. It is the same with Churches, etc. No Church, etc., can live except as they continue to be in harmony with the purpose and the providence of God. Where are the seven Churches in Asia?
IV. That obedience will bring elevation and blessing. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
Inactivity in the cause of Christ condemned
Reflect--
I. That the man who used these words was evidently well aware that the cause of God was not dependent on the aids of men. This is evident if we consider--
1. The meanness of the instruments and the greatness of the work to be done.
2. How absolute are the promises of God, which show His determination to bless His people.
3. The power of God. These considerations ought to teach the instruments to be humble, and they ought also to confirm the faith of the people of God.
II. That his providence does raise up suitable instruments to carry forward his work.
III. That it is the duty of those instruments to give themselves up to the work. We are not only to study the book of God to know what is our duty in general, but also the book of providence to know what is the particular duty He designs us to do. We ought to study--
1. Our particular talent.
2. Our sphere.
3. Our circumstances.
4. The times.
IV. That an awful doom rests on those who listen not to the call of providence.
1. We shall lose the satisfaction of doing good.
2. We shall not prosper.
(1) Temporally.
(2) Spiritually.
Those who are not actively employed in the service of Christ feel most of the bitterness arising from doubts as to their actual condition and fears as to their spiritual state. Listlessness in the cause of Christ will be a cause of gloom on a dying bed.
3. There is an intimate connection between the degrees of glory in heaven and the exercises of activity here. (W. H. Cooper.)
Providence and opportunity
Gods providential purpose; mans present opportunity; that is how I read the lesson of this marvellous history. A purpose clearly written on the face of events and to be readily deciphered from their grouping. Moses at the Red Sea heard a voice telling him to stretch his rod over the sea, that a way might be made for the ransomed to pass over. Now we have no voice; but circumstances gather about us, the rod is thrust into our hand, and we miss our deliverance if we do not see that we must wave the rod. We are not in intellectual and religious infancy. We ought to be able to discover without any warning voice what Gods purpose is, and what our opportunity is worth.
I. As to life itself, human existence; entry upon it is a coming to a kingdom. Living now, we are conditioned by the time and circumstances of to-day. Our days have fallen on a time different from all that have gone before, unique in this particular, if in nothing else--the power of public opinion. In former days but one man here and there seemed to have a kingdom to enter upon, a few men swayed the nations, a few men seemed to be inspired to deeds which raised them into leaders of the people. But now the rulers in name are the ruled in fact. The government is governed and the people control everything. It is a great thing to live now. Literature and science pour their wealth out before us. By these things we have the chance of being better men in some directions of thought and of exerting a mightier influence in the world than our fathers could exert. Some men might just as well have lived hundreds of years ago, for any appreciation they seem to have of the privileges and demands of the time. No time is like another in all its details. We have to make it what it shall be. By the impulse of an earnest life, by the influence of holy character, by brief words spoken and little deeds done according to our opportunity, must we do something to mould that public opinion which is omnipotent.
II. As Christians we have come to a kingdom. Christianity has always presented two aspects, the offensive and the defensive. In the old days of national warfare, when ships were made of wood, rough-wrought cannon and shot were sufficient means of attack. But with the iron-plating has necessarily come improvement in the means of destruction. As the ship becomes more exposed to the danger of improved appliances she must be more scientifically defended. We sometimes smile as we see the way in which truth used to be asserted and defended. We now see that truth is its own best defence. (J. Jones.)
The day we live in
Esther had her God-appointed work. You and I have ours.
I. In order to meet the special demand of this age you need to be an unmistakable, aggressive christian. Of half-and-half Christians we do not want any more. A great deal of the piety of the day is too exclusive. It hides itself. It needs more fresh air, more outdoor exercise. There are many Christians who are giving their entire life to self-examination. They are feeling their pulses to see what is the condition of their spiritual health. How long would a man have robust physical health if he kept all the day feeling his pulse instead of going out into active, earnest, every-day work? I was once amid the wonderful, bewitching cactus growths of North Carolina. I never was more bewildered with the beauty of flowers, and yet when I would take up one of these cactuses and pull the leaves apart the beauty was all gone. You could hardly tell that it had ever been a flower. And there are a great many Christian people in this day just pulling apart their Christian experiences to see what there is in them, and there is nothing left in them. This style of self-examination is a damage instead of an advantage to their Christian character. I remember when I was a boy I used to have a small piece in the garden that I called my own, and I planted corn there, and every few days I would pull it up to see how fast it was growing. Now, there are a great many Christian people in this day whose self-examination merely amounts to the pulling up of that which they only yesterday or the day before planted. If you want to have a stalwart Christian character, plant it right out of doors in the great field of Christian usefulness. The century plant is wonderfully suggestive and wonderfully beautiful, but I never look at it without thinking of its parsimony. It lets whole generations go by before it puts forth one blossom; so I have really more admiration when I see the dewy tears in the blue eyes of the violets, for they come every spring. Time is going by so rapidly that we cannot afford to be idle. A recent statistician says that human life now has an average of only thirty-two years. From these thirty-two years you must subtract all the time you take for sleep, and the taking of food, and recreation; that will leave you about sixteen years. From those sixteen years you must subtract all the time that you are necessarily engaged in the earning of a livelihood; that will leave you about eight years. From those eight years you must take all the days, and weeks, and months--all the length of time that is passed in sickness; leaving you about one year in which to work for God.
II. To meet the duties this age demands of you, you must, on the one hand, avoid reckless iconoclasm, and on the other hand, not stick too much to things because they are old. Do not take hold of a thing merely because it is new. Do not adhere to anything merely because it is old. There is not a single enterprise of the Church or the world but has sometime been scoffed at. There was a time when men derided even Bible societies, and when a few young men met in Massachusetts and organised the first missionary society ever organised in this country there went laughter and ridicule all around the Christian Church. They said the undertaking was preposterous. And so also the work of Jesus Christ was assailed. People cried out, Who ever heard of such theories of ethics and government? Who ever noticed such a style of preaching as Jesus had? Many have thought that the chariot of Gods truth would fall to pieces if it once got out of the old rut. And so there are those who have no patience with anything like improvement in church architecture, or with anything like good, hearty, earnest church singing, and they deride any form of religious discussion which goes down walking among every-day men rather than that which makes an excursion on rhetorical stilts. Oh, that the Church of God would wake up to an adaptability of work! There is work for you to do, and for me to do, in order to this grand accomplishment. Here is my pulpit, and I preach in it. Your pulpit is the bank. Your pulpit is the store. Your pulpit is the editorial chair. Your pulpit is the anvil. Your pulpit is the house scaffolding. Your pulpit is the mechanics shop.
III. In order to be qualified to meet your duty in this particular age, you want unbounded faith in the triumph of the truth and the overthrow of wickedness, (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Womens duty to the age
(a womans sermon to women):--What is womens duty? It is to be gentle, true, devoted. It is to be as strong as it is in her to be and as beautiful as possible. It is to be a discreet keeper at home, a willing performer of out-of-sight duties, a helpmeet to man, a mother in Israel, a handmaid of the Lord. It is a fact past denial that women do exert an immense influence in the world. An English bishop has said, A nation is what its women make it. No man is so strong, or so wise, or so good, that he can afford to do without the gentle remonstrance, the inspiriting plaudits, the pure and bright life-example of the women of his family. There is great need now for women who understand the times and know what the people ought to do. Reforms are necessary, and in making them we shall certainly have to begin with ourselves. Better women will make better homes, better homes will make better society, better society will raise the tone of public opinion, and influence those who frame and execute our laws. Let us learn from the example of Queen Esther how to become better.
I. Let us recognise the fact that as she had her opportunity, so have we ours. If we look around us we must see how God brings certain persons into certain circumstances because they are most fit to be there. One in a family converted. One in a family to whom has been given the seeing eyes and the understanding heart. One in a family more clever, more strong, more amiable than the rest. Why? That that one may fulfil the duties, and meet, not shirk, the responsibilities of that position.
II. Let us learn that the fact of a duty being difficult and dangerous is no excuse for our failing to perform it honestly.
III. We may learn the source of true strength and confidence.
IV. We may learn that having seen our duty, and asked gods guidance and blessing, we should fearlessly go through with our task. Fearlessly, but wisely, according to the light that is given to us. Esther fortified her soul with trust in God, and then used her own common sense. Esthers judgment was equal to her courage. She knew how to bide her time. (Marianne Farningham.)
Public duty
This message sets before us three weighty principles.
I. That Gods cause is independent of our efforts. Mordecai believed that the record of Gods faithfulness in the past gave the assurance that in some way of His own He would prevent the extinction of His people. This is an attitude of mind we should seek to cultivate in reference to the cause of Christ. This cause has the omnipotence of God behind it. He has promised Christ the heathen for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession, and, whoever helps and whoever hinders, His word shall not be broken. One man with truth and the promise of God at his back is stronger than an opposing world. The cause of Christ has come through crises when persecution has tried to exterminate it. It has passed through periods of scepticism when learning and cleverness have fancied that they have blown it away as an exploded superstition. Men have had to stand up for it single-handed against principalities and powers, but with it at their backs they have been stronger than all that were against them.
II. That we are not independent of it. We cannot hold back from Christs cause with impunity. It can do without us, but we cannot do without it. If religion is a reality, to live without it is to suppress and ultimately destroy the most noble part of our being. To live without God is to renounce the profoundest and most influential experience which life contains. If Christ is the central figure in history, and if the movement He has set ageing is the central current of history, then to be dissociated with His aims is to be a cipher or perhaps even a minus quantity in the sum of good.
III. Christs cause offers the noblest employment foe our gifts. It is a transfiguring moment when the thought first penetrates a man that the purpose for which he has received his gifts is to help humanity and the cause of Christ in the world. A man enters upon his spiritual majority when he ceases to be the most important object in the world to himself, and sees outside an object which makes him forget himself and irresistibly draws him on. The problem of the degraded and disinherited is pressing on the attention of intelligent minds with an urgency which cannot be disregarded. The heathen world is opening everywhere to the influences of the gospel If you would run in response to this call, do not neglect the preparation. Knowledge is the armour of light in which the battles of progress have to be fought. Life for God in public must be balanced by life with God in secret. (James Stalker, D. D.)
Womans opportunities-
It has been observed that with every great emergency God has raised up a man equal to the emergency. As God called Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, David, and Daniel for a special work, so He called Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Washington and Lincoln. As God inspired Bezaleel to invent cunning works, so to-day He raises up such men as an Edison to solve and use mysterious forces of nature. Every age and every emergency has had the men needed for the age and the emergency. The apostles met the demand of their age. The Church Fathers did a peculiar work for which they were fitted. Luther came upon the scene just when needed. This is also true of all great men who have become the worlds leaders and saviours. I have spoken of man, but what has been said of him is equally as true of woman. She may not have been so conspicuous a figure, but she was none the less important. When Samuels mother consecrated her boy to the service of Jehovah; had she no part in determining the destiny of Israel? When the mother and grandmother instructed young Timothy in the Scriptures, did they have no part in the establishment of the Apostolic Church? When Martha and Mary made a home for the Saviour, a place where He could lay His head, did they not perform an important part? When the mother of Augustine taught and conversed with him about Scriptures, did she not do much toward making Augustinian confessions possible? The mother of Alfred the Great was his first teacher and always his most trusted counsellor. The mother of Henry VII. of England did more than her royal son for the dissemination of learning and the establishment of colleges. The rise of Methodism goes back beyond John or Charles Wesley to their noble mother. Who familiar with the life of Herschel and his sister can doubt that much of his greatness rests upon her co-operation and untiring labour? The name of Joan of Arc suggests what woman can do on the field of war. Of every woman mentioned it might be said, Thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this. The breadth of womans influence is widening. She is the strongest social force of to-day. Life is her key-board which she may sweep with a masters touch if she will. To woman all doors are open. She may enter and win her bread without being touched by snobbishness and caste. The entrance of woman into the various occupations has had the tendency to stop the growing boorishness which was manifesting itself in business circles. It is slowly but surely leading men to recognise the one great work of life not to be money getting, but character building. She is giving a shading to the values of life; hence we are beginning to place things more nearly where they belong. In temperance reform woman has been, and is still, the leader. Time and again she has undergone the scoffs of rowdies and the ridicule of pot-house politicians, but feeling that God called her to the kingdom for such an hour as this, she has risked popularity and society influence in defence of home and children. The most important work in all this widening field of womans activity is the evangelisation of the world. It is of God. It touches mans deepest need. It brings him the blessings of a Christian civilisation and the assurance of life eternal. It is therefore the highest service woman can enter into. There is nothing that will yield greater joy or larger returns. (W. C. Burns, D. D.)
The Church and the present crisis
I ask you to observe--
I. That a crisis has come of overwhelming importance in the religious history of the world. It is a crisis of magnificent opportunity and also of infinite responsibility. It is a crisis in which unparalleled success may be achieved for the glory of God, or where Churches may be utterly broken and destroyed by their unfaithfulness and disobedience. It is, indeed, the crisis of history; for never have such opportunities for the evangelisation of our own country, or of the heathen abroad, been presented; never have difficulties been so remarkably removed, and never were calls for help so loud and piercing as just now. That I may help you to realise this truth, let me recall a few facts to your remembrance. Within the lifetime of some now here the world was practically closed against the extension of Protestant Christianity. Mohammedanism sealed itself against the truth of Jesus; and the heathen nations of the earth were walled around by prejudice or by prohibitory laws. China and Japan were hermetically sealed against the entrance of Christianity. And now, with our scientific discoveries, our mechanical inventions, our great social movements and combinations, we are sweeping along with a rapidity which it is almost bewildering to contemplate. All this is wonderful beyond realisation. Never did the human race move so quickly. Time after time have the maps of the world been altered and reformed in our day. Now with a startling swiftness the moral map of the world is changing, and no one can presage what will be the next great movement that will command the wonder of mankind. In all these revolutions and developments of the hour, what institution ought to be more concerned than the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ? The Church of to-day is the arbiter of the worlds future. It is called on to save idolatrous nations awakening from the sleep of ages from relapsing into the abyss of scepticism. It is summoned to sanctify and beautify the growing intelligence and wealth of barbarous peoples, by suffusing them with the glory of Christian holiness and truth. It is destined to become the harbinger and bestower of liberty, of enfranchisement, of spiritual expansion to classes and masses of the race who have hitherto groaned in bondage and shame.
II. What is required from the church to meet the pressing crisis. We have a Church of the times; we need a Church for the times. The Church of the times is far too much formal, aiming at gentility and fashion; the Church for the times must be spiritual and powerful, aiming at evangelistic aggression and the conversion of the world. If the Church will seek a new baptism and enter on a new career of aggressiveness, how soon the most glorious prophecies of time shall be fulfilled it is impossible to realise. A short work will God make upon the earth. A very brief period sufficed for the destruction of Sennacheribs host and for the downfall of Babylon. It was a short time only that was required for the humbling of Napoleons pride. And if the Church of God, with her splendour of learning, her ripeness of intellect, her boundless wealth, and her unparalleled vantage-ground, be only faithful and obedient, and ready for the avalanche of opportunities which now present themselves, the progress of the gospel must be far more rapid and glorious than ever before. (W. J. Townsend.)
Man born for an end
While we continue on earth we are obliged to a sort of spiritual speculation; to judge as well as we can, but to remain uncertain; to take the most important steps in the dark; to pursue our course like vessels in a mist, cautiously and fearfully, having no clear view of the coast by which we sail, but only catching here and there a dubious Sign of where we are, and whither we are tending. This acting on venture is emphatically taught in the text. Observe--
I. That all generations and individuals are created for their own end. We cannot doubt that it was with a definite design that God set up the pillars of the universe. And so with its continued existence. The mighty river of human life which gushed forth in Adam, flows, we are sure, to some goal and makes to some issue. God beholds the vast tide of being sweeping on to a glorious consummation, which He perceives now, and we shall see hereafter, to have been the point to which the current tended from the beginning. This will appear from the continual changes which take place. Why do not mens habits remain always the same? Why does one generation abandon the principles and tastes of its predecessor? How is it that the nineteenth century is not like the sixteenth? Continual change intimates that we are travelling on to an appointed destination. To suppose otherwise would be to suppose God to be a God, not of order, but of confusion. We see traces of this in the several dispensations of religion which God has revealed. The law prepared the way for the gospel; all the wars and conquests of Rome brought the human family into a condition the most favourable for the preaching of the apostles. The Patriarchal, the Levitical, and the Christian dispensations, appear to follow in manifest order, each working up and fading into that which came next. What the world is now is a necessary step to what the world is to be. And what is true of periods of a thousand years is true also of each period of fourscore years. Every generation of human kind is born for an end. We are apt to consider overmuch individual life, not the life of the universe. We see unnumbered ripples on the stream of time, coming and going apparently without cause or effect: God beholds in each ripple an onward flow; that not one could be withdrawn without injury to the symmetry of the great whole. There arises out of all this a very solemn character attaching to our tenure of life. We have our part in a stupendous work, whose limits we cannot discern. We have been launched into being just at the moment when we were wanted. Not to do our own pleasure, but to fulfil a part in working out Gods counsels. This is the solemn vocation of each generation.
II. Very commonly a mans life works up to, or hangs upon a certain critical moment. Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Oh I they are words which may well sound in the ears of the soul, at many a sick-bed, at many an event of inferior importance in our earthly career. How did Abraham live seventy years in his fathers house an ordinary man, till the mysterious moment when the voice said to him, Come out from thy kindred? and on what he did at that strange bidding hung not only his, but the worlds history! How did all Davids life turn upon the incident, that at the moment when he chanced to visit his brethren in the camp, at that moment Goliath came out with his defiance of the living God! And so with ourselves: there are in almost every mans life turning-points upon which all hangs. Who cannot look back and discern times and seasons when, if he had acted otherwise, his whole after-life would have been altered? And thus in religion--whether a man be lost or saved will frequently depend upon a step taken at a particular crisis; all subsequent steps grow out of that step. True that every hour of our lives is an hour when good and evil are set before us. There are strong temptations occurring at intervals, which, well got over, leave a mans heart for a long time at liberty; which, if not resisted, lead from deceit to deceit-from sin to sin--until there is no getting the feet out of the net. Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Sometimes a mans whole life may be traced afterwards to have led up to one such moment. His education, his tastes, his companionships may all be discerned to have been the instrumentality of drawing him into the wilderness for his one great conflict with the adversary. (J. B. Woodford, M. A.)
Every one has his peculiar work
The thought to a devout man is always supreme--thou art come here for such a time--for such a purpose. Thy steps are ordered of the Lord. Thy talents, thy character, thy place in society have all been shaped and settled, with a special adaptation to the Divine purpose. Nothing walks with aimless feet. As in the human body every function, so in the Divine government every Christian is placed to do a work which none else can do, and his Lords eye is ever on him. While this is his victory over every base fear, and discouraging thought, his faith, his confidence that God has called him to his proper work, will sustain him in it. (Homilist.)
Emergency
Let us learn from the appeal of Mordecai to Esther that opportunity is the test of character. Who knoweth, he said, whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? It was the tidal time of her life, the great opportunity of her existence, and the question was whether she would rise to the occasion and make it subservient to her greatness or whether it would sweep her away with it as weak, irresolute, and unequal to the emergency. Happily she stood the test, and by her courageous self-devotion proved that she was worthy of the affection with which her foster-father regarded her. Character is revealed only by being tested, and that test often comes in the shape of sudden elevation. The common idea, I know, is that character is tested only by affliction; but I am not sure if prosperity be not a more searching acid than adversity. Now, this is a truth which ought never to be lost sight of by any one among us. What we shall do in a crisis depends upon what we have been doing all along in the ordinary routine of our lives, when no such emergency was on us. We cannot cut ourselves off from the past. There is a continuity in our lives, such that the habits which we have formed in the days that are gone do largely condition for us our resources in the present. Every day we live we are either adding to that constant element in us which constitutes our truest selves, and so increasing that reserve force on which in times of emergency we can draw with advantage, or we are expending with imprudent prodigality our spiritual capital, and living morally beyond our means, so that when a crisis comes we cannot stand it, and must inevitably go down. The careful man who husbands his earnings and stores them in some safe bank is able, when a time of adversity comes upon him, to tide over the difficulty by breaking in upon the surplus which he has accumulated. We all see and admit that in the case of deposits that are made outside of ourselves, and which are not us so much as they are ours. But we too frequently fail to take note of it in respect to the character deposits or drafts which we are constantly making on or from ourselves--meaning, thereby, our souls. If, as each morning dawns, we meet every duty as it calls us, or face every temptation as it attacks us, as a duty to be performed, or a temptation to be resisted out of regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall thereby add to our store of strength for the confronting of what may yet be before us; but if we go through our lives seeking only our own ease or the gratification of our appetites, or the indulgence of some evil ambition, we are, in all that, only weakening ourselves, and making ourselves so much the less to be relied upon when we come into our kingdom, and have to face a time like that which Esther was here required to meet. Travellers tell us of a tree in tropical countries, the inner parts of which are sometimes eaten out by ants, while the bark and leaves remain apparently as fresh as ever, and it is not till the tornado comes and sweeps it down that its weakness is discovered. But the storm did not make the tree weak: it only revealed how weak it really was; and its feebleness was the result of the gnawings of innumerable insects through a long course of years. In like manner, if we let our characters be honeycombed by neglect of common duty, or by daily indulgence in secret sin, or by habitual yielding to some temptation, we cannot expect anything else than failure when the testing hour shall come. What an importance thus attaches to what I may call the commonplace of life I We are apt, when we read such a history as that before us, to exclaim, How tremendously important these grand outstanding opportunities of doing some great service are! And no doubt they are all that we can say they are, But then we forget that the bearing in these of the individuals to whom they have been given will depend on the characters which they have been forming and strengthening in the ordinary routine life of every day before they came into their kingdom. It is out of the commonplace, well and faithfully done, that the heroic is born; and the splendid devotion of Esther to the welfare of her people would never have been heard of had she not meekly learned and diligently practised the lessons of her girlhood which Mordecai taught her in his pious home. The prize-taker at the end of the year is the daily plodder all through it. The gaining of his diploma by a student depends, no doubt, on the manner in which he passes his final examination. That is for him the equivalent of this occasion in the life of Esther; but then the proficiency which at that time he manifests does itself depend on the steady, constant perseverance which he has maintained in his class work from hour to hour throughout his course. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Junctures
Nor does this prophetic utterance of Mordecai apply simply to our position and responsibility as a nation, but also to our circumstances and obligations as individuals. When a ship is moving in a certain course, and there is descried a wrecked crew and passengers tossed in their little boat, or imprisoned on some lonely island, the captain might well consider whether he has not been brought into the course which he has taken for such a time--such an occasion of humanity and benevolent action as that--and would be censured if he did not avail himself of it for the rescue of the perishing. In every life there are junctures when the same reflection should have a place in our minds. It may be an orphan family cast in the way of a wealthy relative whom he has the opportunity of taking under his protection and guardianship, or an infidel assault on the vital doctrines of Christianity, when just such talents and faith as we may possess may be what is needful to repel it, or an injury being done to a neighbour when, from our position and influence, interference on our part may be all that is called for to prevent it. In a thousand different ways may we have to consider whether God has not so placed us in providence as to be specially qualified and circumstanced for the accomplishment of particular works of faith and labours of love. (T. McEwan.)
Our opportunity
As I read Captain Mahans masterly and noble Life of Nelson the other day with Esther in my mind, I could not but mark with my pencil such things as these in that great sea-captain who had such a hand in setting England up on her high opportunity. Opportunity, says the excellent biographer, flitted by, but Nelson was always ready and grasped it. Again, and again, and again the same thing is said of Nelson, till it shines out above all his other great gifts, and becomes the best description of his great genius. But we are not great queens like Esther, with the deliverance of Israel in our hands; nor are we great sea captains like Lord Nelson, with the making of modern England in our hands. No. But we are what we are, and what God has made us to be and to do. We all have our own circle set round us of God, and out of our own circle our own opportunities continually arise. Our opportunities may not be so far-reaching or so high sounding as some other mens are; but they are our opportunities, and they are far-reaching enough for us. Our opportunities are life or death to us and to others; they are salvation or condemnation to our immortal souls; and is that not circle, and opportunity enough? We are all tempted every day to say, If I only were Esther! It I only had a great opportunity, would I not rise to it! Would I not speak out at any risk! Would I not do a work, and win a name, and deliver Israel, and glorify God! Did you ever read of Clemens, and Fervidus, and Eugenia, and their imaginary piety? Clemens had his head full of all manner of hypothetical liberalities. He kept proposing to himself continually what he would o if he only had a great estate. Come to thy senses, Clemens. Do not talk what thou wouldst be sure to do if thou wast an angel, but think what thou canst do as a man. Remember what the poor widow did with her one mite, and go and do likewise. Fervidus, again, is only sorry he is not a minister. What a reformation he would have worked in his own life by this time, and in his whole parish, if only God had made him a minister! He would have saved his own soul, and the souls of his people, in season and out of season. Do you believe yourself, Fervidus? You are deceiving yourself. You hire a cabman to drive you to church, and he sits in the wet street waiting for you, and you never ask him how he manages to live with no Sabbath. It is not asked of you, Fervidus, to live and die a martyr; but just to visit your cabmans wife and children, and have family worship with them on a Sabbath night like you would have done if you had been a minister. Eugenia, again, is a young lady full of the most devout dispositions. If she ever has a family she will let you see family religion. She is more scandalised than she can tell you at the way that some of her schoolfellows have married heathens, and at the life they lead without Gods worship in their newly-married houses. But, Eugenia, you may never be married so as to show married people how to live. At the same time, you have a maid already, all to yourself. She dresses you for church, and then you leave her to have as little religion as a Hottentot. You turn her away when she displeases you, and you hire another, and so on, till you will die unmarried, and without a godly household, and your circle will be dissolved and your opportunity for ever lost. Your maid, and her sister, and her widowed mother, and her ill-doing brother, and her sweetheart, they all are your circle at present, and your opportunity is fast flitting by; and, because it is so near you every day, you do not discover it. Oh, Eugenia, full to the eyes of so many vain imaginations! You never heard of Eugenia, and Fervidus, and Clemens before, and do not know where to find them. But no matter. You and I are Fervidus and Eugenia ourselves. You and I are Mordecai and Esther ourselves. We are in that circle, and amid those opportunities, the very best that all the power, and all the wisdom, and all the love of God can provide for us. (A. Whyte, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain
Esther
ESTHER’S VENTURE
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MORDECAI AND ESTHER
Est 4:14.
All Christians are agreed in holding the principles which underlie our missionary operations. They all believe that the world is a fallen world, that without Christ the fallen world is a lost world, that the preaching of the Gospel is the way to bring Christ to those who need Him, that to the Church is committed the ministry of reconciliation.
These are the grand truths from which the grand missionary enterprise has sprung. It is not my intention to enlarge on them now. But in this and in all cases, there are secondary motives besides, and inferior to those which are derived from the real fundamental principles. We are stimulated to action not only because we hold certain great principles, but because they are reinforced by certain subordinate considerations.
It is the duty of all Christians to promote the missionary cause on the lofty grounds already referred to. Besides that, it may be in a special way our duty for some additional reasons drawn from peculiarities in our condition. Circumstances do not make duties, but they may bring a special weight of obligation on us to do them. Times again do not make duties, but they too make a thing a special duty now. The consideration of consequences may not decide us in matters of conscience, but it may allowably come in to deter us from what is on higher grounds a sin to be avoided, or a good deed to be done. Success or failure is an alternative that must not be thought of when we are asking ourselves, ‘Ought I to do this?’ but when we have answered that question, we may go to work with a lighter heart and a firmer hand if we are sure that we are not going to fail.
All these are inferior considerations which do not avail to determine duty and do not go deep enough to constitute the real foundation of our obligation. They are considerations which can scarcely be shut out, and should be taken in determining the weight of our obligation, in shaping the selection of our duties, in stimulating the zeal and sedulousness with which we do what we know to be right.
To a consideration of some of these secondary reasons for energy in the work of missions I ask your attention. The verse which I have selected for my text is spoken by Mordecai to Esther, when urging her to her perilous patriotism. It singularly blends the statesman and the believer. He sees that if she selfishly refuses to identify herself with her people, in their calamity, the wave that sweeps them away will not be stayed outside her royal dwelling; he knows too much of courts to think that she can stand against that burst of popular fury should it break out. But he looks on as a devout man believing God’s promises, and seeing past all instruments; he warns her that ‘deliverance and enlargement shall arise.’ He is no fatalist; he believes in man’s work, therefore he urges her to let herself be the instrument by which God’s work shall be done. He is no atheist; he believes in God’s sovereign power and unchangeable faithfulness, therefore he looks without dismay to the possibility of her failure. He knows that if she is idle, all the evil will come on her head, who has been unfaithful, and that in spite of that God’s faithfulness shall not be made of none effect. He believes that she has been raised to her position for God’s sake, for her brethren’s sake, not her own.
‘Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?’ There speaks the devout statesman, the court-experienced believer. He has seen favourites tended and tossed aside, viziers powerful and beheaded, kings half deified and deserted in their utmost need. Sitting at the gate there, he has seen generations of Hamans go out and in; he has seen the craft, the cruelty, the lusts which have been the apparent causes of the puppets’ rise and fall, and he has looked beyond it all and believed in a Hand that pulled the wires, in a King of Kings who raiseth up one and setteth down another. So he believes that his Esther has come to the kingdom by God’s appointment, to do God’s work at God’s time. And these convictions keep him calm and stir her.
We may find here a series of considerations having a special bearing on this missionary work. To them I ask your attention.
I. God gives us our position that we may use it for His cause, for the spread of the Gospel.
In most general terms.
{a} No man has anything for his own sake-no man liveth to himself. We come to the kingdom for others. Here we touch the foundation of all authority; we learn the awful burden of all talents, the dreadful weight of every gift.
{b} No man receives the Gospel for his own sake. We are not non-conductors, but stand all linked hand in hand. We are members of the body that the blood may flow freely through us. For no loftier reason did God light the candle than that it might give light. We are beacons kindled to transmit, till every sister light flashes back the ray.
{c} We especially have received a position in the world for the conversion of the world. Our national character and position unite that of the Jew in his two stages-we are set to be the ‘light of the world,’ and we are ‘tribes of the wandering foot.’ Our history, all, has tended to this function, our local position, our laws, our commerce. We are citizens of a nation which ‘as a nest has found the riches’ of the peoples. In every land our people dwell.
Think of our colonies. Think that we are brought into contact with heathen, whether we will or not. We cannot help influencing them. ‘Through you the name of God is blasphemed amongst the Gentiles.’ Think of our sailors. Why this position? What is plainer than that all this is in order that the Gospel might be spread? God has ever let the Gospel follow in the tracks made for it by commercial law.
This object does not exclude others. Our language, our literature, our other rich spiritual treasures, we hold them all that we may impart. But remember that all these other good things that England has will spread themselves with little effort, people will be glad to get them. But the Gospel will not be spread so. It must be taken to those who do not want it. It must be held forth with outstretched hands to ‘a disobedient and gainsaying people.’ It is found of them that seek it not.
Like the Lord we must go to the wanderers, we must find them as they lie panting and thirsty in the wild wilderness. Therefore Christian men must make special earnest efforts or the work will not be done. They must be as the ‘dew that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.’
And again, such action does not involve approval of the means by which such a position has become ours. Mordecai knew what vile passions had been at work to put Esther there, and did not forget poor Vashti, and we have no need to hide conviction that England’s place has often been won by wrong, been kept by violence and fraud, that, as she has strode to empire, her foot has trodden on many a venerable throne unjustly thrown down, and her skirts have been dabbled with ‘the blood of poor innocents,’ splashed there with her armed hoof. Be it so!-Still! ‘Thou makest the wrath of man to praise Thee.’ Still-’we are debtors both to the Greek and barbarian,’ and all the more debtors because of ills inflicted. God has laid on us a solemn responsibility. Over all the dust of base intrigues, and the smoke of bloody battles, and the hubbub of busy commerce, His hand has been working, and though we have been sinful, He has given us a place and a power, mighty and awful. We have received these not for our own glory, not that we should boast of our dominion, not that we should gather tribute of gain and glory from subject peoples, not even that we should carry to them the great though lesser blessings of language, united order, peaceful commerce, sway over brute nature, but that we should give them what will make them men-Christ.
We have a work to do, an awful work. To us all as Christians, to us especially as citizens of this land and members of this race, to us and to our brethren across the Atlantic the message comes, by our history, our manners, etc., as plainly as if it were written in every wave that beats around our coast. ‘Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.’
II. God lays upon us special missionary work by the special characteristics of the times.
‘Such a time as this!’ Was there ever such a time?
Look at the condition of heathenism. It is everywhere tottering. ‘The idols are on the beasts, Bel boweth down.’ The grim gods sit half famished already. There is a crack in every temple wall. Mahommedanism, Buddhism, Brahminism-they are none of them progressive. They are none of them vital. Think how only the Gospel outleaps space and time. How all these systems are of time and devoured by it, as Saturn eats his own children. They are of the things that can be shaken, and their being shaken makes more certain the remaining of the things that cannot be shaken.
Look at the fields open. India, China, Japan, Africa, in a word, ‘The field is the world’ in a degree in which it never was before. ‘Such a time’-a time of seething, and we can determine the cosmos; a plastic time, and we can mould it; it is a deluge, push the ark boldly out and ransom some.
III. If we neglect the voice of God’s providence, harm comes on us.
The gifts unimproved are apt to be lost. One knows not all the conditions on which England holds her sway, nor do we fathom the strange way in which spiritual characteristics are inwrought with material interests. But we believe in a providential government of the world, and of this we may be very sure, that all advantages not used for God are held by a very precarious tenure.
The fact is that selfishness is the ruin of any people. When you have a ‘Christian’ nation not using their position for God’s glory, they are using it for their own sakes; and that indicates a state of mind which will lead to numberless other evils in their relation to men, many of which have a direct tendency to rob them of their advantages. For instance, a selfish nation will never hold conquests with a firm grasp. If we do not bind subject peoples to us by benefits, we shall repel them by hatreds. Think of India and its lessons, or of South Africa and its. We have seen the tide of material prosperity ebb away from many a nation and land, and I for my part believe in the Hand of God in history, and believe that the tide follows the motions of the heavens.
The history of the Jewish people is not an exception to the laws of God’s government of the world, but a specimen of it. They who were made a hearth in which the embers of divine truth were kept in a dark world, when they began to think that they had the truth in order that they might be different from other people, and forgot that they were different from others in order that they might first preserve and then impart the truth to all, lost the light and heat of it, stiffened into formal hypocrisy and malice and all uncharitableness, and then the Roman sword smote their national life in twain.
Whatever is not used for God becomes a snare first, then injures the possessors, and tends to destroy the possessors. The march of Providence goes on. Its purposes will be effected. Whatever stands in the way will be mowed remorselessly down, if need be. Helps that have become hindrances will go. The kingdoms of this world will have to fall; and if we are not helping and hasting the coming of the Lord we shall be destroyed by the brightness of His coming. The chariot rolls on. For men and for nations there is only the choice of yoking themselves to the car, and finding themselves borne along rather than bearing it, and partaking the triumph, or of being crushed beneath its awful wheels as they bound along their certain road, bearing Him who rides ‘forth prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness.’
IV. Though we be unfaithful, God’s purpose of mercy to the world shall be accomplished.
‘Deliverance and enlargement shall arise from another place.’ So it is certain that God from eternity has willed that all flesh should see His salvation. He loves the heathen better than we do. Christ has died not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. God hath made of one blood all nations of men. The race is one in its need. The race is one in its goal. The Gospel is fit for all men. The Gospel is preached to all men. The Gospel shall yet be received by a world, and from every corner of a believing earth will rise one roll of praise to one Father, and the race shall be one in its hopes, one in its Lord, one in faith, one in baptism, one in one God and Father of us all. That grand unity shall certainly come. That true unity and fraternity shall be realised. The blissful wave of the knowledge of the Lord shall cover and hide and flow rejoicingly over all national distinctions. ‘In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.’
This is as certain as the efficacy of a Saviour’s blood can make it, as certain as the universal adaptation and design of a preached Gospel can make it, as certain as the oneness of human nature can make it, as certain as the power of a Comforter who shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and judgment can make it, as certain as the misery of man can make it, as certain as the promises of God who cannot lie can make it, as certain as His faithfulness who hangs the rainbow in the heavens and enters into an everlasting covenant with all the earth can make it.
And this accumulation of certainties does not depend on the faithfulness of men. In the width of that mighty result the failure of some single agent may be eliminated. Nay, more, though all men failed, God hath instruments, and will use them Himself, if need were.
Only we may share the triumph and partake of the blessed result. Decide for yourself, what share you will have in that marvellous day. Let your work be such as that it shall abide. Stonehenge, cathedrals, temples stand when all else has passed away. Work for God abides and outlasts everything beside, and the smallest service for Him is only made to flash forth light by the glorifying and revealing fires of that awful day which will burn up the wood, the hay, and the stubble, and flow with beautifying brightness and be flashed back with double splendour from ‘the gold, the silver, and the precious stones,’ the abiding workmanship of devout hearts in that everlasting tabernacle which shall not be taken down, the ransomed souls builded together, ransomed by our preaching, and ‘builded up together for a temple of God by the Spirit.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.