Esther 4:16

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which [is] not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

Ver. 16. Go, gather together all the Jews] Great is the power of joint prayer, it stirs heaven, and works wonders. Oh, when a Church full of good people shall set sides and shoulders to work, when they shall rouse up themselves and wrestle with God, when their pillars of incense shall come up into his presence, and their voices be heard as the voices of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, Revelation 14:2, what may not such thundering legions have at God's hands? Have it? they will have it: Caelum tundimus, preces fundimus, misericordiam extorquemus, said those primitive prayer-makers. Revelation 9:13, the prayers of the saints from the four corners of the earth sound, and do great things in the world, they make it ring. It was the speech of a learned man, if there be but one sigh come from a gracious heart (how much more, then, a volley of sighs from many good hearts together!) it filleth the ears of God, so that God heareth nothing else.

And fast ye for me] Who am now upon my life, and, for aught I know, am shortly to appear before the Lord (who requireth to be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him), and wherein I may not look to have leave to err twice, Non licet in belle bis errare. Point, therefore, your prayers for me with holy fastings, that they may pierce heaven and prevail. Abstinence meriteth not, saith a grave divine (Dr Hall), for religion consisteth not in the belly, either full or empty; (What are meats or drinks to the kingdom of God, which is, like himself, spiritual?) but it prepareth best for good duties. Full bellies are fitter for rest. Not the body so much as the soul is more active with emptiness; hence solemn prayer taketh ever fasting to attend it; and so much the rather speedeth in heaven, when it is so accompanied. It is good so to diet the body, that the soul may be fattened.

And neither eat nor drink three days, &c.] That is, saith Drusius, two whole nights, one whole day, and part of two other days. See the like expression, Matthew 12:40. Others say, that in those hot countries they might fast three days as well as we two in these cold climates. Tully in one of his epistles telleth us, that he fasted two days together, without so much as tasting a little water. For the Romans, also, and Grecians had their fasts private and public, whether it were by a secret instinct of nature, or by an imitation of the Hebrews, Faciunt et vespae favos. The Turks likewise at this day precisely observe their fasts, and will not so much as taste a cup of water, or wash their mouths with water, all the day long, before the stars appear in the sky, be the days never so long and hot. The Hollanders and French fast, but had need, saith one, to send for those mourning women, Jeremiah 9:17, by their cunning to teach them to mourn. The English are not sick soon enough, saith another, and they are well too soon: this is true of their minds as well as of their bodies. Currat ergo poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia; and let our fasts be either from morning till evening, Judges 20:26 2 Samuel 3:35, or from evening till evening, Leviticus 23:32, or longer, as here, and Acts 9:9, as the hand and wrath of God doth more or less threaten us, or lie upon us. There is an old Canon that defineth their continuance, till stars appear in the sky, Usque dum stellae in caelo appareant.

I also and my maids will fast] She herself would be in the head of them, as Queen Elizabeth also told her soldiers at Tilbury camp for their comfort; and as Caesar used to say to his soldiers, Go we, and not Go ye, Non ite, sed eamus; and as Joshua said, I and my house will serve Jehovah, Joshua 24:15. Esther's maids must fast and pray, or they are no maids for her.

And so will I go unto the king] It is said of Achilles, that he was Styge armatus; but he that fasteth, prayeth, believeth, Est caelo, Christo, Deo armatus, armed with an undaunted resolution to obey God whatever come of it.

Which is not according to the law] She slights not the law, but waves it, to obey God's law, and save her people.

And if I perish, I perish] This she speaketh not rashly or desperately, as prodigal of her life, but as sacrificing the same to God and his cause, through the obedience of faith, and saying, as that martyr, Can I die but once for Christ? See the like phrase, Genesis 43:14, See Trapp on " Gen 43:14 " Better do worthily, and perish for a kingdom, than unworthily, and perish with a kingdom.