(1) В¶ When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; (2) And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. (3) And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
The subject riseth to a very interesting point at the opening of this chapter. Mordecai well knew that he was the cause which had called forth Haman's vengeance. He doth not recant however, or humbly seek peace with Haman. This would have been to have courted the favor of man, and slighted the confidence he had in GOD. It was GOD'S cause in which he was embarked: and, no doubt, his eyes were to the LORD for deliverance. But until deliverance should be wrought, if it pleased the LORD to grant such a mercy, Mordecai gives vent to sorrow. It is certainly a beautiful feature in his character, that he came forth publicly, by this cry in the midst of the city, to show that he was a Jew. But while viewing the subject in its first and literal sense as an history, we may, I think, without violence, as it concerns the church of GOD, behold it also spiritually. A proclamation of GOD'S righteous law is gone forth against sin and transgression; for, void of deliverance by JESUS, universal, and everlasting destruction is assuredly to fall, from the presence of our LORD, on all who know not GOD, and obey not the gospel of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. And while the awakened sinner is unacquainted with the means of escape in the redemption by JESUS, like Mordecai he will rent his clothes and cry aloud with a great and bitter cry; what must I do to be saved?