“For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Then Esther sent a message to Mordecai, saying, Go, gather all the Jews that are in Susa, and fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night and day. I and my maidens 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, demonstrating Esther's commitment to act despite the danger and her willingness to risk her life for her people. Her call for a three-day fast on her behalf suggests that she views what she is about to do as requiring spiritual preparation and perhaps divine favor, and her declaration that she will go to the king though it is against the law and her acceptance that she might perish represents her crossing of a moral and personal threshold. The phrase if I perish, I perish demonstrates a kind of resignation to the will of God combined with resolve to act, suggesting that Esther has decided that preserving her own life at the cost of allowing her people to be destroyed is not an acceptable choice.
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