Mordechai was the fourth of the righteous people given a divine hint — and like David, he recognized it immediately. The Mekhilta finds his hint in a single verse from the Book of Esther.
"And every day Mordechai would walk in the courtyard of the harem" (Esther 2:11). On the surface, this looks like anxious pacing — an uncle worried about his adopted daughter Esther, who had been taken into the king's household. But the Mekhilta reveals what Mordechai was actually thinking as he walked those halls.
"Is it conceivable," Mordechai said to himself, "that this righteous woman is destined to marry this uncircumcised one — Achashverosh? It must be that something momentous is in store for the Jews, and they are destined to be redeemed through her."
Mordechai's logic was theological, not emotional. He knew Esther was righteous. He knew God does not allow righteous people to suffer meaninglessly. Therefore, Esther's presence in the palace of a pagan king could not be an accident or a tragedy — it had to be a setup for redemption. God was positioning His agent inside the enemy's house.
This is what the Mekhilta means by "taking the hint." Mordechai looked at a situation that appeared catastrophic — a Jewish woman trapped in a foreign king's harem — and saw divine strategy. He did not panic, did not despair, and did not try to rescue Esther by force. He walked the courtyard every day, watching and waiting, because he understood that God was already working and the story was not yet finished.