Esther 4:14

relief A.V. enlargement, a word now obsolete in the sense of relief or deliverance. It does not occur elsewhere in the A.V., but we find the corresponding verb, meaning to set at large, to give freedom to move without obstruction, in 2 Samuel 22:37 (Psalms 18:36) (-Thou hast enlarged my steps under me"); Psalms 4:1 (-Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress"). For the same use of the verb in Old English compare

"Thrice hath this Hotspur …

Discomfited great Douglas, ta'en him once,

Enlarged him.…"

I Henry IV.iii. 2. 115.

" Enlargethe man committed yesterday."

Henry V.ii. 2. 40.

from another place not meaning simply from some human source, as when Judas Maccabaeus sent an embassy to Rome to ask aid against Greek oppression (1Ma 8:17), or later, when his brother Jonathan applied in the same quarter and for the same object (1Ma 12:1). The reference here, though veiled after the reticent fashion of this Book, is to the Divine agency, whether working through earthly means or not. Israel cannot perish.

but thou and thy father's house shall perish Her inactivity would involve not only herself but her family in ruin. Thus she has nothing to hope from that alternative. It ensures her death; the other course but risks it.

who knoweth whether = perhaps. Cp. the same expression in Joel 2:14; Jonah 3:9.

whether thou art not come A.V. whether thou art come. It is true that the -not" has no literal equivalent in the original Hebrew, but still the R.V. is a more accurate translation of the exact sense. Mordecai means, We cannot say that Providence has not shaped thy fortunes to this very end, and given thee a position enabling thee to deliver thy whole nation in the impending crisis.