⁴When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. ⁵Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. ⁶Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, ⁷and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.

⁹Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, ¹¹“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law – all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.” ¹²When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, ¹³Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” ¹⁵Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, ¹⁶“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids 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.” ¹⁷Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Esther is an example to women. She was literally preparing to die: in the hope that she may be able to win the favour of the king and present the case to save her people.  Now Mordechai believed that Israel would survive — but he was also realistic enough to know that all the Jews of the capital could be killed by this decree.

We need to contrast this with now. Many people in our society are shielded from the consequences of their actions. Quoting Kristor

Prosperity is a reliable sequela of virtue. So the discipline of the wilderness, or of hard times, can engender great wealth. Yet such wealth does not then necessarily result in improvidence, or a tendency toward moral corruption. Where the rewards to virtue and the penalties to vice are not obscured by noise in the system of the economy – when failure is not coddled, or success derogated – rational agents can more readily guide their acts toward appropriate ends. And since the most rational and intelligent agents always end up controlling most of the resources, and therefore making the most consequential economic decisions, a preponderance of virtue and knowledge among them can guide the whole system in such a way as to keep it predominantly within the constraints of prudence.

But when noise is introduced to the economic system, it misguides even rational intelligent agents, inclining them to vicious ways. Catastrophe then ensues.

There is a time to be counted. And when times get tough, the need to be counted increases. You cannot merely sit on the sidelines or consider that you will be shielded by your connections, wealth or personal power.  As Donne said, no man is an island: the harms of another affect us. Without a sense of moral choice, we make ethics and philosophy moot, for a forced choice on moral issues — which is the current position in both the liberal and Islamic states — requires, demands that we creatively disobey our masters.

Prayerfully, carefully and deliberately. And we need to be aware that we stake our lives, our fortunes each time we do this.

But we preserve our honour.