EXPOSITION:
Haman’s plot to annihilate the entire Jewish race was met with “…great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing.” When Esther wanted to give an excuse that she could not go to the King’s presence because she had not been invited and Mordecai did not agree to that, she then sent a message to Mordecai to gather all the Jews and let them all fast for three days while she and her attendants did same.
After that was done, she would go to the king at the peril of her life. “So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions” (4:17, NIV).
God was gracious unto them and heard their prayer. Probably the fasting was the catalyst to the prayer. Initially, Esther thought it was not possible but when God intervened, there was deliverance. The people then became relieved and they celebrated this great victory.
The Jews, who awhile ago were under a dark cloud, dejected and disgraced, now had light and gladness, joy, honour, and a feast. If they had not been threatened and been in distress, they would not have had a cause for this extraordinary joy.
God’s people sometimes are made to sow in tears that they may reap in so much joy. When the need be that we fast today, let us do it for tomorrow will come that we will feast.