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Mordecai Found Courage in Three Children's Verses

Mordecai entered the palace by providence, saved Ahasuerus for Jewish survival, then found courage in three children's verses.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Guards Looked Away
  2. The King Had to Live
  3. The Decree Entered the Streets
  4. Three Children Carried Three Verses

Mordecai came to the palace at night with knowledge he should not have had.

The city slept around the royal house. Behind its doors, two chamberlains whispered treason into the dark. Bigthan and Teresh had service close enough to the king to turn access into a weapon, and they thought their words belonged only to themselves.

The Guards Looked Away

Mordecai had the gifts a court needed. He knew seventy languages. He had sat among sages. If the plot had reached him through a strange tongue at the gate, no one would have been surprised.

But the knowledge came another way. God placed the warning in his path before skill could claim credit. Mordecai arrived at the palace, and the men at the gates did not see him. No guard lifted a hand. No voice challenged him. The doors that should have stopped him gave way, and the words of the conspirators reached him whole.

The king's life hung on the breath of two servants. Mordecai carried their secret out of the palace before it could harden into murder.

The King Had to Live

Ahasuerus was no innocent man in a clean world. Still, Mordecai needed him alive.

The Jews stood in a dangerous place, too visible when blamed, too useful when needed, too exposed when the court changed mood. Esther had only recently become queen. Mordecai had only recently risen. If the king fell dead so close to their ascent, suspicion would not need evidence. It would run straight toward the Jews.

Mordecai also had Jerusalem before his eyes. The Temple still waited in ruin and hope. A living king could be won, petitioned, moved toward permission. A murdered king would leave only panic, accusation, and men eager to attach Jewish names to royal blood.

So Mordecai saved the throne without mistaking it for salvation. He protected the king because his people's breath was caught in the king's survival.

The Decree Entered the Streets

Then Haman's decree went out, and every Jewish door in Persia became thin.

The danger did not stay inside scrolls and seals. It entered the market. A Jew who went out to buy what his family needed could be seized almost by the throat. Men who had been neighbors spoke like owners of tomorrow's corpses. "Wait until tomorrow," they said. "Then I will kill you and take your money."

Even slavery closed its door. A desperate Jew could offer his body for sale and find no buyer, because no one wanted to purchase a man already marked for death. Freedom could not protect him. Poverty could not hide him. Humiliation could not ransom him.

A royal decree did not wait politely for its date. It changed how people looked at a Jewish face. The murder was scheduled for tomorrow, but the contempt arrived at once. Men rehearsed theft before blood had been spilled.

Haman and his men rejoiced in the order they had secured. They wanted Mordecai to hear it from their mouths.

Three Children Carried Three Verses

Mordecai left the court and met children coming from school.

He did not ask them for rumors from the street or news from the palace. He asked for the words still warm in their mouths, the verses their teachers had placed there before the decree could poison the air.

Their small voices still carried the sound of memorized Scripture. He stopped the first child and asked what verse had been learned that day. The child answered, "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh."

Mordecai turned to the second. The child gave him another line: "Let them take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; let them speak the word, but it shall not stand; for God is with us."

The third child spoke last. "And even to old age I am He, and even to hoar hairs I will carry you: I have made and will bear; yea, I will carry and will deliver."

The palace had given Mordecai the sound of treason. The street had given him the sound of terror. The children gave him three answers, one after another, and each answer stood taller than the decree.

Mordecai walked on with the king still alive behind him, Haman's paper before him, and the breath of schoolchildren carrying words no empire could strangle.

ProphecyEstherMordecaiAssassination PlotChildrenHaman
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From the tradition

Sources

2 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Legends of the Jews 12:85Legends of the Jews

The story of Mordecai and the plot against King Ahasuerus is more intricate, and frankly, more miraculous than it first appears.

The familiar story is this: Mordecai, Esther's cousin, overhears a plot to assassinate the king and bravely reports it. But how did he know?

The simple answer is that he was a genius. Some accounts say Mordecai possessed an incredible knowledge of languages. He could understand the hushed tones of the king's chamberlains even when they thought they were speaking in secret. (Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews)

Is that the whole story? Some traditions paint an even more wondrous picture.

The Megillah itself doesn't specify how he knew, and some say that Mordecai obtained his information not through linguistic prowess, but through prophecy. Imagine that! According to this tradition, Mordecai received a divine message, a glimpse into the treacherous plans brewing within the palace walls.

It’s said that he appeared one night in the palace. Through a miracle, the guards didn’t see him, and he could enter as he pleased. Thus he overheard the conversation between the two conspirators.

Why was Mordecai so intent on saving Ahasuerus? Was it simply an act of civic duty?

Not quite.

While saving the king was the right thing to do, Mordecai had ulterior motives, noble ones, of course. Saving the king wasn't just about loyalty. He hoped to gain the king's favor for the Jewish people, and especially to secure permission to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.: Mordecai’s rise to power was recent. Esther was newly queen. If the king were to die suddenly, especially so soon after these events, who would the pagans blame? They would blame the Jews. They would see it as divine retribution for Ahasuerus's association with Esther and Mordecai. The backlash could have been catastrophic. Mordecai was thinking several steps ahead, protecting his people from potential accusations and persecution.

So, the next time you read the Book of Esther, remember Mordecai, the man who may have saved a king, and a nation, not just through cleverness, but perhaps through divine intervention and a deep understanding of the precarious position of his people. It’s a powerful reminder that even in the face of danger, hope and faith can prevail. What would you do?

Full source
Legends of the Jews 12:150Legends of the Jews

After Haman's royal edict, every Jew in Persia lived under a death sentence.

The situation was, to put it mildly, dire. As Legends of the Jews recounts, the lives of the Jewish people were thrown into absolute turmoil. Going outside to simply buy necessities became a terrifying ordeal. Persians, emboldened by the decree, would accost them, sneering, "Never mind, tomorrow will soon be here, and then I shall kill thee, and take thy money away from thee." Imagine the chilling effect of those words, the constant fear, the utter helplessness.

Even the most desperate measures offered no escape. A Jew couldn't even sell himself into slavery to find safety. No one wanted to own a person marked for death. Not even sacrificing their freedom could protect them from the impending doom. It was a nightmare with no apparent exit.

Amidst this crushing despair, there was one man who refused to surrender: Mordecai. He held firm to his faith, trusting in divine intervention.

Now, this part of the story, as Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews goes, is particularly poignant. As Mordecai left the court, after Haman and his cronies had gleefully informed him of the king's decree, he encountered Jewish children returning from school – cheder, we might call it today. Seeking a sign, perhaps, a glimmer of hope, he asked each child what verse they had learned that day.

The first child responded with: "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh" (Proverbs 3:25). What a powerful message in that moment, a reminder not to succumb to panic, even in the face of unimaginable threat.

The second child recited: "Let them take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; let them speak the word, but it shall not stand; for God is with us" (Isaiah 8:10). This verse, echoing with defiance and faith, spoke of the futility of the wicked's plans, the ultimate protection offered by God’s presence. As we find in Midrash Rabbah, these words were not mere coincidence.

Finally, the third child shared: "And even to old age I am He, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made and I will bear; yea, I will carry and will deliver" (Isaiah 46:4). This promise of unwavering divine support, from cradle to grave, must have resonated deeply with Mordecai, offering a profound sense of comfort and reassurance.

These weren't just random verses; they were beacons of hope, divinely orchestrated messages delivered by the purest of souls. They reminded Mordecai, and through him, the entire Jewish community, that even in the darkest of times, faith and trust in God could light the way forward. It's a reminder that even when the world seems to be collapsing around us, there are always glimmers of hope to be found, sometimes in the most unexpected places. And that sometimes, the voices of children carry the wisdom we need most.

Full source