Esther
the queen is deeply concerned over a report she has heard about her
older cousin Mordecai. He is mourning, weeping and has torn his
clothing. He has adorned himself in sackcloth and ashes and now he is
making a public display of his grief. Hatach who is one of Queen
Esther's chamberlains and dedicated to her care has been commissioned
by the queen to discover what Mordecai is doing and why he is doing
it. We see Hatach's obedience in chapter four and verse six:
So
Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was
before the king's gate.
Our
verse begins, "So Hatach went forth..." There are
verses in the Bible that seem very simple at the time we are reading
them, and this is one of them. However, the significance of this
little phrase is vital to the rest of the story of Esther. What if
Hatach did not "went"? What if he decided to be
distracted and go another way or defect from the queen? Perhaps
another chamberlain may have been sent, but let's imagine for a
moment if he did not go. We might see another whole paragraph to this
story, however, Hatach "went forth" so we will never
know what that might have been.
The
verse goes on to say, "...to Mordecai unto the street of the
city, which was before the king's gate." We discover a
couple things in this portion of the verse. First, Hatach knew to go
to the street of the city. Perhaps there was only one and it was very
easy to know where to go, but he did have some sense of direction as
to where he might find Mordecai. Secondly, he knew to go to the
portion of the street "which was before the king's gate."
Since Queen Esther lived at least in some portion of the palace of
Shushan it should not have taken him long to get there. Nonetheless,
Hatach put actions to his commission and obeyed the queen.
Finally
this, Hatach assumed, and we will find out later that he was correct,
that Mordecai would be in the street of the city which was before the
king's gate. In other words, Mordecai did not move. He continued in
his mourning and would be easily found should someone desire to find
him.
This
verse should have us pondering two questions: If we were sent to find
someone who was displaying dire needs, would we be obedient to the
commission to find them? And what passion do we have in our lives
that would make us as committed as Mordecai that we would be easily
found should someone look for us there? May the Lord Jesus help us to
be obedient to His commission, and be willing to stand when the
opportunity arises to do so.
Next
time we will see Mordecai's response to Hatach, so read ahead, and we
shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation” and the new marriage book “So, You Want
to Be Married” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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