A Courage Contagion

With the king’s blessing the edict was sent out: Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day. The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered. ~Esther 3:13-15

The city of Susa was bewildered. Perhaps the nature of such an eclectic kingdom caused pause at the summary nature of the edict. And not a few most likely knew the lineage of their present Queen. Why would the king offer his imprimatur for such a slaughter? It made no sense. It also made one wonder whether such edicts would establish a precedent for other ethnic groups going forward. While Haman sat down to tie one on, the rest of the city spoke in hushed whispers about the future, indiscriminate slaughter that was now “settled law.”
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Outside the gates of the royal court a loud cry of a lone individual could be heard: When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. ~Esther 4:1,2  This was performance art of the most serious kind. The fastidious Persians, who required that their queen spend twelve months in spa treatment before being presented to the king, were alarmed by Mordecai. Even though he was outside the gate his cries could be heard inside the royal courts. The news of this dust and ash covered man reached the ears of the queen. She too was appalled: When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ~Esther 4:4  The royal marriage was only a few months in. Esther had gone from an obscure, adopted slave to a queen waited on by servants. How she felt about the forced marriage we do not know. However, it is easy to imagine that having this friend in low places was troubling on a number of levels. If being queen was her fate, she at least wanted to carry on as peacefully as possible. Mordecai’s show was about to wreck all of that. Esther needed more information: Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why. So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. ~Esther 4:5,6

Just as fear is contagious, so is courage. Mordecai was risking, at the very least, public humiliation for his crazed, dust-throwing act. At the most, he was risking execution. He was protesting against an edict of the king. His hope was that his actions would lend courage to the young queen.