Esther 4:2

2 he went up to the entrance of the gate of the king, for he could not go to the gate of the king in sackcloth.

Esther 4:2 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 4:2

And came even before the king's gate
Or court, that Esther might if possible be made acquainted with this dreadful calamity coming upon her people:

for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth:
or appear in such a dress at court, where nothing was admitted to damp the pleasures of it.

Esther 4:2 In-Context

1 Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry;

2 he went up to the entrance of the gate of the king, for he could not go to the gate of the king in sackcloth.

3 In every province [each] place where the king's edict and his law came, there [was] great mourning for the Jews with fasting, crying, wailing, [and] sackcloth; and ashes were spread out as a bed for them.

4 And Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and they told her, and the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he might remove his sackcloth--but he did not accept [them].

5 Then Esther called Hathach from the king's eunuchs {who regularly attended to her}, and she ordered him [to go] to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why.