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THE STORY OF ESTHER Hadassah,
Esther’s Jewish name, comes from the word for 'myrtle', a tree
whose leaves only release their fragrance when they are crushed;
Esther's full potential only appeared when she and her people were in
terrible danger. The name 'Esther' means 'hidden': Esther's real identity
as a Jewess was hidden for years.
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Vashti was banished, Esther became Queen Esther saves Mordecai from Haman Esther
saves the Jewish population of Persia Activities
and Focus Questions
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The
Book of Esther was written
for Diaspora Jews, (Jews who lived outside Israel), to show them
how to live in exile. If they encountered bigotry and prejudice, they must
act with courage and integrity. The story also explained the origin of the
feast of Purim, a major Jewish feast day. The
story was also a political
satire, showing the danger of giving absolute power to a monarch who
turned out to be a fool. The Persian king in the story, Ahasuerus, governed
by whim rather than by wisdom, becoming the tool of anyone shrewd enough
to exploit him. The lesson is clear: do not give too much power to any one
person; in the long run God alone should rule us. Christianity is often accused of causing the terrible anti-Semitism that has shamed the modern world. In fact, this story shows that anti-Semitism existed long before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
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The
story of Esther contains three different episodes: 1
Vashti was banished, and Esther became Queen
(Esther 1 & 2) 2
Esther saved Mordecai from Haman
(Esther 3-8:14) 3Esther
saved the Jewish people of Persia
(Esther 8:15-10) VASHTI WAS BANISHED,
ESTHER BECAME QUEEN
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Vashti refuses the summons of the king |
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Vashti
may have thought she was being treated as a concubine, rather than as a
wife and queen. She behaved with haughty dignity when she refused the
king’s command, but unfortunately her answer was given in front of the officers of the
empire, and she paid the price for humiliating the king. Ahasuerus, still half-drunk, acted hastily.
On the advice
of cowed and inept councilors, he made the situation worse by issuing a
public decree that Vashti was to be banished. This drew even more
attention to the fact that Vashti had flouted his command, and made him look a fool to all his subjects. At this stage
in the story, it becomes obvious that this is not a traditional story
about a good king. Ahasuerus was a despot who was also a fool. So a theme
begins to emerge: unlimited power, exercised without wisdom, is a
dangerous thing. After
a while Ahasuerus
found that without Vashti, ‘the beloved one’, he was lonely. He could
not call her back because his word, once spoken, was law. So his courtiers
suggested a solution: to find another queen, a young and beautiful woman
who would take Vashti’s place. ‘Then
the King’s servants who attended him said “Let beautiful young virgins
be sought out for the King. Let the King appoint commissioners in all the
province of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the
harem in the citadel of Susa under custody of Hegai, the King’s eunuch,
who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetic treatments be given
them. Let the girl who pleases the King be Queen instead of Vashti.”
This pleased the King, and he did so.’ Read
Esther 2:1-23. A
nation-wide search for a new queen began – the first recorded beauty
contest in the world. A young Jewess was among the candidates. Her beauty
was so extraordinary that she ‘pleased’ even the chief eunuch Hegai,
who had been castrated while still a young boy – there is a note of irony here. One
wonders too at the background story to all this, whether
Hegai played some part in deposing Vashti. |
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Detail from Rembrandt's 'Assuerus, Haman and Esther' |
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Esther
with all the other young virgins was taken into the harem, and twelve
months of careful preparation began. She was shrewd
enough to seek the advice of Hegai, who knew the king’s tastes.
Eventually she
went to the king, and pleased him so much that he set the royal crown on
her head. She became queen in Vashti’s place. Esther
was a symbol of Jews who lived successfully in an alien culture. As a
woman, she was not in a position of power – just as Diaspora Jews were
not members of the power elite. As an orphan, she was separated from her
parents – as Diaspora Jews are separated from their mother-country. With
both these handicaps, she had to use every skill and advantage she had –
as Diaspora Jews did. They, like Esther, had to adapt themselves to the
situation. From
the start, Esther had been helped by her uncle Mordecai, but nobody knew
that they were related, or that Esther was a Jewess. Esther did not keep
the dietary laws of Judaism, or retain the practices of an orthodox
Jewess. God is never mentioned directly in the story. So the story is
not a ‘religious’ story as such, but a secular one, about
pragmatism in the face of adversity. Not
long after her installation as queen, Esther’s uncle Mordecai found out
about a plot to assassinate the king. He told Esther, who in turn warned
the king. The plotters were hanged, and Mordecai’s warning was recorded
in the court annals. |
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| Esther is crowned Queen | ||||
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ESTHER SAVES MORDECAI
FROM HAMAN
The
story that follows in chapters 3-8 gives details of a personal conflict
that escalates into a nation-wide pogrom against the Jewish people. Mordecai
refused to bow to the highest court official, Haman the Agagite. In a
court with strict protocol, Mordecai’s refusal to bow was a grave insult
that naturally infuriated Haman, and a feud started between the two men. ‘When
Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance to him, Haman was
infuriated. But he thought it beneath him to lay hands on Mordecai alone.
So, having been told who Mordecai’s people were, Haman plotted to
destroy all the Jews.’ Read
Esther 3:1-15.
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There
is no reason given for Mordecai’s refusal to bow. It was not against
normal Jewish practice to bow to a ruler or his representative (see Joseph
and his brothers in Egypt, Genesis 43:26). But Mordecai’s ancestor Saul
had been an enemy of Haman’s ancestor Agag, king of the Amalekites (see
1 Samuel 15), and this may have been Mordecai’s reason. In any case, he did
not follow the accepted practice, and thereby placed himself and others in
danger. Haman’s
anger shifted. It had been focused on Mordecai, but finding that Mordecai
was a Jew, his fury expanded to include the whole Jewish people. In a
scene that formed a blueprint for anti-Semitic propaganda, Haman fed the
mind of the king with ideas about a people who were different, who obeyed
different laws, and who were a danger to the kingdom. He sought ‘the
final solution’. Read
Esther 4:1-17 The
Jews, said Haman, must be eliminated for the good of the kingdom. The king
agreed, not knowing that Esther, his beloved queen, and Mordecai, the man
to whom he owed his life, were both Jews. A day was set aside for the
slaughter, and a decree issued to every corner of the empire. The
absolute power of the king seems strange to us, accustomed as we are to
the democratic rule of law. But in Canaan and Egypt, a king was thought of
as a living god. He was a sacred person who embodied, in his person, the state or
kingdom that he governed. His physical body was clearly not immortal, but
he was thought of as someone who was more than human, with a special and
unique connection with the immortal gods. Because of this, he could do
what he wanted even when, as in this case, it was clearly unjust.
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A reconstruction of the Throne Room
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This
concept of sacral kingship was rejected by Israel. From earliest times it saw God as
its ruler. Its laws came from God, not from the state. When it did have
kings like David or Solomon, it emphasized their humanity. In the
Israelite mind, kingship was very close to tyranny, and had to be
constantly hedged around with precautions to stop it becoming despotic. In
the crisis that was about to engulf him, Mordecai turned to Esther. She
alone could save the Jewish people from the stupidity and cruelty of her
husband the king. But there was a problem - Esther had not been summoned into the royal presence for
thirty days, an ominous sign that she might be losing favor in his eyes.
To approach her husband without being first commanded by him was breaking the
law, and she would be punished by immediate death. She was aware of this
of course, but her reaction was fatalistic: “If I perish, I perish”. ‘Then
Esther said in reply to Mordecai “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”. Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had
ordered him.’ At
enormous personal risk, Esther broke the law and went into the throne room
of Ahasuerus.
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Ruins of the Hadish Palace at Persepolis, built by Xerxes (King Ahasuerus)
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'As
soon as the King saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor
and he held out to her the golden scepter that was in his hand.’ |
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Ahasuerus
seemed charmed by her unexpected appearance. Taking advantage of his
unexpected good humor, she asked him if he and Haman
would come to a banquet she meant to hold. He agreed. Haman suspected
nothing, believing he was being honored by her invitation. He and the
king attended the banquet, and Ahasuerus promised Esther that she could
have anything she wanted – even half his kingdom. This was an
extravagant offer, highlighting the foolish recklessness of the king. Esther
asked that the king and Haman attend a second banquet the next day. The
king agreed. In high spirits, Haman returned to his home and ordered the
erection of a gallows, to hang the enemy he hated, Mordecai. But during
the night, Ahasuerus could not sleep. He told his servants to read from
the records of his reign. As
they read, he was reminded of the good deed of Mordecai. He realized he
had never rewarded him, and decided to remedy this. As it happened, Haman
was there, and the king asked him how he could reward someone who had been
a remarkable servant. ‘So
Haman came in, and the King said to him “What shall be done for the man
whom the King wishes to honor?” Haman,
thinking the King was referring to himself, recommended extravagant
rewards. The King agreed, but then astonished Haman by telling him that it
was Mordecai he wanted to reward. Haman was mortified by his mistake, and
hated Mordecai even more. Zeresh, the wife of Haman, warned him, but he
was now so eaten up by hatred that he could not turn from the path he
was following. Read
Esther 7:1-10 |
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Esther accuses Haman |
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In
response, Esther asked that her life be spared and her people saved. From
whom? asked the King. From Haman, replied Esther. 'When
the King returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman had
thrown himself on the couch where Esther was reclining; and the King said
“Will he even assault the Queen in my presence, in my own house?”’ Haman saw that he was trapped. He was taken out by the king’s servants and hanged from the gallows he had built for Mordecai. He did not repent of his hatred for the Jewish population. He begged for his life, but gave no indication that he had experienced a change of heart. Esther had saved Mordecai from Haman, but the Jewish population was still in danger.
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ESTHER SAVES THE JEWISH POPULATION OF PERSIA Esther
pleaded with the King. ‘The
King held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood
before the King. She said “If it pleases the King, and if I have won his
favor, and if the thing seems right before the King, and I have his
approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman
son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the
Jews who are in all the provinces of the King. For how can I bear to see
the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the
destruction of my kindred?”
Throughout
the story, Esther had made not a single false move
Her
speech in 8:5-6 showed her skill in diplomacy. The
Jews were not only saved from death: they could also attack those people
who had been their enemies, and could claim their property. On the very
day that they were to have been annihilated, they turned the tables by
destroying all those who had sought to kill them. Thousands were killed,
including the ten sons of Haman. |
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Read
Esther 9:1-32 From
that day on, the Jewish people kept the day as a special festival called
Purim. It was a day when gifts were exchanged among members of each
family, and presents given to the poor. It commemorated the day the Jewish
people were saved by Esther. The story of Esther was both a political satire and an inspirational tale. It pilloried the institution of absolute monarchy, showing the dangers of give power to a fool. It also attacked the denigration of women that was current at the time, aiming at a wide audience, both geographically and socially.
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A tomb in Iran, believed to belong to Esther and her uncle Mordecai
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The people who settled in Canaan during the invasion/settlement period were called Israelites. They made up the twelve tribes of Israel. But after the period of the exile in Babylon, the people of Israel are called Jews. They come from the two tribes of the kingdom of Judah, and their descendants. This period, from 586BC until the Roman occupation of Palestine in 63BC,
includes exile in Babylon, the return to Jerusalem, and the building of
the Second Temple. It is a significant period in Jewish history, since events of
this time had a profound effect on subsequent Jewish thinking. |
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Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple in 586BC and carried off the
aristocracy, members of the upper classes, and all the leading families of
Judah. They lived in exile in Babylon for a period of about fifty years. |
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These Jewish captives attempted to make theological sense of the disasters that had happened to them. They had previously assumed that, as Yahweh’s Chosen People they and the Temple would be protected. This assumption had proved wrong. They asked: Why had Yahweh made them suffer? What had they done to cause the disaster? How could such an event be prevented in the future?
The prophets told them that disaster had struck because they had broken
the terms of the covenant with Yahweh. They had not abandoned the fertility
gods Asherah and Baal, as they should have. So Yahweh had given them up to their fate. It
followed that if they repented, Yahweh would forgive them. Hopefully they
would be reinstated, first in his favour, then in their homeland. With
this in mind, their priests edited and rewrote the Jewish Scriptures, so that the
focus was on radical monotheism, the exclusive worship of one god.
In the meantime, the
Babylonian empire had been superseded by the Persians. In 538BC
Cyrus the Great of Persia issued an edict which allowed certain members of
the Jewish captive population to return to Jerusalem, to settle there and
rebuild the Temple. This was part of an empire-wide resettlement program,
but the Jewish captives saw it as clear evidence that Yahweh had accepted
their repentance. Over a period of time,
the Jews returned to Jerusalem. They set about the task of rebuilding
Jerusalem and the Temple, which would be called the Second Temple (the
first Temple had been built by Solomon). They did not have kings any
longer to lead and govern them - Esther's story shows only too clearly
what they thought of kings and despots. Instead, their leaders were the prophets.
Two of these prophets, Ezra and Nehemiah, carried out sweeping social
reforms that had a direct bearing on the lives of many women.
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WOMEN’S LIVES IN THIS ERA Ezra demanded that worship of the fertility gods be abandoned; only Yahweh would be worshipped. This was not as difficult to enforce as it might previously have been. Worship of the forces of Nature and fertility had been strongest in the northern agricultural provinces, and the dispersal of these people by the Assyrian conquerors led to a decline in the popularity of the fertility religions.
The problem for women was that religion was now centered on a god whose essence was power and majesty. This deity was a genderless spirit force, neither male nor female. But because power and strength were seen in human
terms as male attributes, the deity was increasingly described in male terms. Sin was now linked with impurity, and with imagery that was demeaning to women, for example the reference in Ezekiel 37:17 to menstruation. When wickedness was presented in human form, it was female, for example Zechariah 5:7-11. Nehemiah demanded that all foreign-born wives who had returned to Jerusalem with their Jewish husbands should be divorced. The purpose of this edict was to emphasize and purify Jewish identity. Women were judged on their clan background rather than on their personal merits, which undermined respect for women as human beings. The social reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah were accepted by the people, but not without protest. For example, the stories of Ruth and of Esther, written in this period, make particular points about women, that:
For additional information on the lives of women in the Bible, see links to FAMILY, WORK, RELIGION
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Debate
What
would be the qualities of an ideal queen? In other words, what should
Ahasuerus have been looking for when he searched for a new queen/wife? What
qualities do you hope to find in a life partner? Discuss this question
with a learning partner, and list the five most important qualities. What
qualities do you think your future life-partner would hope to find in you? How
can you cultivate these qualities in yourself? List some practical
strategies for being the person you want to be. Focus Questions |
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Two royal attendants at the court of Ahasuerus
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ESTHER
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| Copyright 2006 Elizabeth Fletcher |