Book of Esther
The Book of Esther (Hebrew: מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, romanized: Megillat Esther; Greek: Ἐσθήρ; Latin: Liber Esther), also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the Megillah"), is a book in the third section (Ketuvim, כְּתוּבִים "Writings") of the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the Five Scrolls (Megillot) in the Hebrew Bible and later became part of the Christian Old Testament. The book relates the story of a Jewish woman in Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people.
For the 2013 film, see The Book of Esther (film).
The story takes place during the reign of King Ahasuerus in the First Persian Empire. Queen Vashti, the wife of King Ahasuerus, is banished from the court for disobeying the king's orders. To find a new queen, a beauty pageant is held and Esther, a young Jewish woman living in Persia, is chosen as the new queen. Esther's cousin Mordechai, who is a Jewish leader, discovers a plot to kill all of the Jews in the empire by Haman, one of the king's advisors. Mordechai urges Esther to use her position as queen to intervene and save their people. Esther reveals her Jewish identity to the king and begs for mercy for her people. She exposes Haman's plot and convinces the king to spare the Jews. The Jewish festival of Purim is established to celebrate the victory of the Jews of the First Persian Empire over their enemies, and Esther becomes a heroine of the Jewish people.
The books of Esther and Song of Songs are the only books in the Hebrew Bible that do not mention God explicitly.[2] Traditional Judaism views the absence of God's overt intervention in the story as an example of how God can work through seemingly coincidental events and the actions of individuals.
The book is at the center of the Jewish festival of Purim and is read aloud twice from a handwritten scroll, usually in a synagogue, during the holiday: once in the evening and again the following morning. The distribution of charity to the needy and the exchange of gifts of foods are also practices observed on the holiday that are mandated in the book. Since the 1890s, several academics have “agreed in seeing [The Book of] Esther as a historicized myth or ritual” and generally concluded that Purim has its origin in a Babylonian or Persian festival (though which one is a subject of discussion).[3][4]
Setting and structure[edit]
Setting[edit]
The biblical Book of Esther is set in the Persian capital of Susa (Shushan) in the third year of the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus. The name Ahasuerus is equivalent to Xerxes[5] (both deriving from the Persian Khshayārsha),[6] and Ahasuerus is usually identified in modern sources as Xerxes I,[7][8] who ruled between 486 and 465 BCE,[5] as it is to this monarch that the events described in Esther are thought to fit the most closely.[6][9]
Assuming that Ahasuerus is indeed Xerxes I, the events described in Esther began around the years 483–482 BCE, and concluded in March 473 BCE.
Classical sources such as Josephus, the Jewish commentary Esther Rabbah and the Christian theologian Bar Hebraeus,[10] as well as the Greek Septuagint translation of Esther, instead identify Ahasuerus as either Artaxerxes I (reigned 465 to 424 BCE) or Artaxerxes II (reigned 404 to 358 BCE).[10]
On his accession, however, Artaxerxes II lost Egypt to pharaoh Amyrtaeus, after which it was no longer part of the Persian empire. In his Historia Scholastica Petrus Comestor identified Ahasuerus (Esther 1:1) as Artaxerxes III (358–338 BCE) who reconquered Egypt.[11]
Structure[edit]
The Book of Esther consists of an introduction (or exposition) in chapters 1 and 2; the main action (complication and resolution) in chapters 3 to 9:19; and a conclusion in 9:20–10:3.[12]
The plot is structured around banquets (Hebrew: מִשְׁתֶּה, romanized: mišˈte, plural מִשְׁתָּאוֹת mištāˈhoṯ or מִשְׁתִּים mišˈtim), a word that occurs twenty times in Esther and only 24 times in the rest of the Hebrew bible. This is appropriate given that Esther describes the origin of a Jewish feast, the feast of Purim, but Purim itself is not the subject and no individual feast in the book is commemorated by Purim. The book's theme, rather, is the reversal of destiny through a sudden and unexpected turn of events: the Jews seem destined to be destroyed, but instead are saved. In literary criticism such a reversal is termed "peripety", and while on one level its use in Esther is simply a literary or aesthetic device, on another it is structural to the author's theme, suggesting that the power of God is at work behind human events.[13]
Interpretation[edit]
In the Book of Esther, the Tetragrammaton does not appear, but some argue it is present, in hidden form, in four complex acrostics in Hebrew: the initial or last letters of four consecutive words, either forwards or backwards comprise YHWH. These letters were distinguished in at least three ancient Hebrew manuscripts in red.[50][note 1]
Christine Hayes contrasts the Book of Esther with apocalyptic writings, the Book of Daniel in particular: both Esther and Daniel depict an existential threat to the Jewish people, but while Daniel commands the Jews to wait faithfully for God to resolve the crisis, in Esther the crisis is resolved entirely through human action and national solidarity. God, in fact, is not mentioned, Esther is portrayed as assimilated to Persian culture, and Jewish identity in the book is an ethnic category rather than a religious one.[51]
This contrasts with traditional Jewish commentaries, such as the commentary of the Vilna Gaon, which states "But in every verse it discusses the great miracle. However, this miracle was in a hidden form, occurring through apparently natural processes, not like the Exodus from Egypt, which openly revealed the might of God."[52] This follows the approach of the Talmud,[53] which states that "(The Book of) Esther is referenced in the Torah in the verse 'And I shall surely hide (in Hebrew, 'haster astir,' related to 'Esther') My Face from them on that day.[54]
André Lacocque also sees the Book of Esther as being fundamentally theological and that its main message was to correct the mistakes of ancestors. These mistakes included being lenient against Amalekites and plundering goods, which King Saul was guilty of. Another message was that diasporic Jews were responsible for the welfare of their host community, who held unpredictable views about Jews. These views ranged from violent antisemitism to passionate philosemitism, where Jews are arbitrarily promoted to higher positions due to being 'sexy'. Lacocque compares this to Joseph's governance of Egypt in the Book of Genesis, which benefitted native Egyptians and Hebrew immigrants.[55]
Although marriages between Jews and Gentiles are not permitted in orthodox Judaism, even in case of Pikuach nefesh, Esther is not regarded as a sinner, because she remained passive, and risked her life to save that of the entire Jewish people.[56]
Azīz Pajand, a Persian Jew, published "Purim" in 1966, which offered an Iranophilic interpretation of the Book of Esther. Here, Haman was the Amalekite enemy of 'pure-blooded Iranians' and Jews. Thus, Purim became a holiday that celebrates salvation for all Iranians from the 'Hamanites'. He also emphasizes the role of Jewish-Persian cooperation in realizing the Book of Esther's denouement. Pajand justified his interpretation to dispel accusations that the Book of Esther was anti-Iranian and because he believed that Iranians were "travellers in the way of truth". In contrast, Haman violated the Zoroastrian ideal of “Good thoughts; Good words; and Good deeds”.[57] Lacocque likewise observes that the "enemies of the Jews" were never arbitrarily branded as Amalekites before being killed, in comparison to Haman and his sons, which discredits any motive of Jewish ultranationalism.[55]
Albert Barnes similarly argues that the philosemitic Persian establishment was perplexed at Haman's decree (Esther 3:15),[58] and that they were supportive of Esther's efforts against the "enemies of the Jews". The latter were mostly found "among the idolatrous people of the subject nations", whom the Persians did not care for.[59] The ones in Susa, however, consisted of Haman's faction, led by his ten sons,[60] and fugitives who believed they were free to kill the Jews once the latter's "privileges have expired", thus why they were killed the next day.[61] Matthew Poole sees the subsequent hanging of Haman's sons as a cruel Jewish and Persian custom that punishes offenders for 'abusing' the king.[62]
John Gill sees the conversion of Persian allies (Esther 8:17) as an example of 'conversion under duress' but does not discount alternative explanations. They include being impressed by the 'Divine Providence' working in the Jews' favor and seeking the favor of Esther and Mordecai, who gained immense power.[63] But ultimately, the Persian allies and Jews celebrated Purim together and taught their children to read the Book of Esther (Esther 9:27).[64]