Esther 4:17

17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Esther 4:17 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 4:17

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, ( Esther 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 F5 they were the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of Nisan.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 Midrash Esther, fol. 94. 4.

Esther 4:17 In-Context

15 Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai,
16 "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."
17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.