41 When Mordecai learned all that had been done , he tore his clothes , put on sackcloth and ashes , and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly . 2 He went as far as the king's gate , for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth . 3 In each and every province where e the command and decree of the king came , there was great mourning among the Jews , with fasting , weeping and wailing ; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Esther 4:1-3
Commentary on Esther 4:1-4
(Read Esther 4:1-4)
Mordecai avowed his relation to the Jews. Public calamities, that oppress the church of God, should affect our hearts more than any private affliction, and it is peculiarly distressing to occasion sufferings to others. God will keep those that are exposed to evil by the tenderness of their consciences.