Esther
Created | Updated May 14, 2003
The Biblical book of Esther is not so closely interwoven in the canon or "received text" (as opposed to the spurious Apocryphal texts) as the other books in the Bible are; however there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence that relates to it. Some of which remains to this day as a part of our lives.
The story concerns Haddassar or Esther a dependant of Modecai, a court official who rose to great power in the early days of the Persian Empire. She is taken as a wife by the Emperor and gets to be respected in the position of Queen or first lady of the court.
The story starts with the King, Emperor Ahasuerus -whose empire was from India to Ethiopia; and concerns the goings on and intrigues of that time. A lot of it is left to the reader to find out from secular sources. (It is supposed for instance that this King attacked Athens and set a chain of events in motion that eventually lead to the Persian Empire falling to Alexander.)
It also deals (nothing in the book is dwelt on in depth) with the system of internal controls that were exercised at court. A key one was that no law of the Persians could be changed by any subsequent decree - not even if the King who passed that decree wanted to change it. (The story of Daniel in the lion's den depended on that law.)
The other key was that not even the Queen could come into the presence of the King unannounced without putting her life at risk.
The story begins at a banquet during which the King gets drunk and calls for the first lady to be shown to the assembled Lords of his realm. For whatever reason, the Queen refuses to do as she is bid. Perhaps the summons is at variance with accepted behaviour and she does not know what to do for the best. We don't know.
We are told that though the King is enchanted with this wife he is drunk and angry at the refusal. Then, still drunk he has a chain of events set in motion that has her displaced.
When he sobers, he is remorseful but there is nothing he can do.
What he has agreed to is that a search for a replacement to Queen Vashti be instituted. All the suitable maidens in the realm are brought to him as concubines. One might imagine the jostling for position that every court official would get up to as the chance of having a close relative at court presented itself. This is not so with Mordecai.
Mordecai is a Jew. His law forbids that any of his family marry non Jews. None the less, the girl is taken into the custody of the officer in charge of the wives of the King. Here no doubt she sides with the disgraced Vashti. She does not want to be like the other girls. She is no usurper. For whatever reason, she finds favour with the officer in charge and gets the best of everything and this in turn leads to her being the chosen new Queen.
In the meantime, the King has replaced his chief adviser with an haughty man called Haman. Haman comes from a line of people hostile to the Jews. As such Mordecai, who is a man of principle and no court jockey, refuses to bow to him.
Rather than just settle for revenge at this slight, Haman sets out to cause the death of all the Jews in the empire. He instigates a series of issues that the King sides with before taking council with others. Once the laws are passed of course, there is nothing anyone can do about it. He gives Haman his signet ring and allows him to write the decree; he also gives him finances and the use of his secretaries and all the trappings of office to have these laws sent out all over the empire by pony express.
All the rulers were to gather the Jews on a certain date and execute them and steal all their valuables.
The city is in turmoil and the Jews go into mourning. When Esther finds out about it, she makes contact with her cousin and seeks to help. He asks her to approach the king and ask for help but she is afraid to do so. He warns her that their God will supply a saviour but she will not escape the edict. And he reasons that perhaps it was divine intervention that she should be in such a powerful position at the time.
She asks him to get the other Jews together and pray about it all, that she might gain strength in some way from that. After fasting for a time she approaches the King and invites him to a feast in his honour. She wants him to bring Haman too.
At the feast she is asked what it is she wants and asks that she be allowed to hold another feast for them. Haman is highly honoured and goes home joyful. But this is marred by the presence of Mordecai who still refuses to bow to him. He decides to hang him on a flag pole.
During the night the King can not sleep and he has his secretary go over the affairs of state. It is brought to his attention that Mordecai has received no reward for his part in thwarting an assassination attempt on the King. Haman of course has come in bright and early for the feast and wants to tell the King about his plan for Mordecai. But the King gets in first.
He has Haman describe what he would do for someone that the King was pleased with if he were King. Naturally the big head thinks the reward is for himself. So he prescribes a treat he would love. And is ordered to carry it out on Mordecai.
Haman begins to realize he could be in trouble.
At the second banquet the King asks what it is the Queen wishes. She explains the predicament she is in. This is a big surprise to the King, he not realizing the religion of his wife (what a way to run an empire) but it's a bigger surprise to Haman who is now having a really bad hair day.
Enraged, the king rushes out into the garden (like you do) and Haman throws himself literally on the Queen’s mercy; where he is found by the King -who comes back just in time to think his wife is being raped. (You don’t have to be the sharpest chisel in the drawer to be a King, just the first out.) The guards tell him of the stake set up for impaling Mordecai and the king says for them to put Haman on it. He also gives Esther the house of Haman and all his property.
There is nothing to be done about the law though. He gives Esther and Modecai carte blanche to do what they can about it. Quickly, arrangements are made to thwart the previous edict by having all those that would do the dirty deed themselves killed and all their property taken by the Jews. The time period given for this is extended and the Jews make sure that there is nothing left to chance. Also a great fear of the Jews falls on the other officials and citizens of the empire so no one dares to carry out the law put forward by Haman.
This great slaughter was ended on the 13th day of the month of Adar, which is to say the middle of December. The 14th was proclaimed a day of rejoicing which today is celebrated as the festival Hanukah.
Mordecai got to be second in command of the kingdom. And Esther?
She was Scheherazade.
The story concerns Haddassar or Esther a dependant of Modecai, a court official who rose to great power in the early days of the Persian Empire. She is taken as a wife by the Emperor and gets to be respected in the position of Queen or first lady of the court.
The story starts with the King, Emperor Ahasuerus -whose empire was from India to Ethiopia; and concerns the goings on and intrigues of that time. A lot of it is left to the reader to find out from secular sources. (It is supposed for instance that this King attacked Athens and set a chain of events in motion that eventually lead to the Persian Empire falling to Alexander.)
It also deals (nothing in the book is dwelt on in depth) with the system of internal controls that were exercised at court. A key one was that no law of the Persians could be changed by any subsequent decree - not even if the King who passed that decree wanted to change it. (The story of Daniel in the lion's den depended on that law.)
The other key was that not even the Queen could come into the presence of the King unannounced without putting her life at risk.
The story begins at a banquet during which the King gets drunk and calls for the first lady to be shown to the assembled Lords of his realm. For whatever reason, the Queen refuses to do as she is bid. Perhaps the summons is at variance with accepted behaviour and she does not know what to do for the best. We don't know.
We are told that though the King is enchanted with this wife he is drunk and angry at the refusal. Then, still drunk he has a chain of events set in motion that has her displaced.
When he sobers, he is remorseful but there is nothing he can do.
What he has agreed to is that a search for a replacement to Queen Vashti be instituted. All the suitable maidens in the realm are brought to him as concubines. One might imagine the jostling for position that every court official would get up to as the chance of having a close relative at court presented itself. This is not so with Mordecai.
Mordecai is a Jew. His law forbids that any of his family marry non Jews. None the less, the girl is taken into the custody of the officer in charge of the wives of the King. Here no doubt she sides with the disgraced Vashti. She does not want to be like the other girls. She is no usurper. For whatever reason, she finds favour with the officer in charge and gets the best of everything and this in turn leads to her being the chosen new Queen.
In the meantime, the King has replaced his chief adviser with an haughty man called Haman. Haman comes from a line of people hostile to the Jews. As such Mordecai, who is a man of principle and no court jockey, refuses to bow to him.
Rather than just settle for revenge at this slight, Haman sets out to cause the death of all the Jews in the empire. He instigates a series of issues that the King sides with before taking council with others. Once the laws are passed of course, there is nothing anyone can do about it. He gives Haman his signet ring and allows him to write the decree; he also gives him finances and the use of his secretaries and all the trappings of office to have these laws sent out all over the empire by pony express.
All the rulers were to gather the Jews on a certain date and execute them and steal all their valuables.
The city is in turmoil and the Jews go into mourning. When Esther finds out about it, she makes contact with her cousin and seeks to help. He asks her to approach the king and ask for help but she is afraid to do so. He warns her that their God will supply a saviour but she will not escape the edict. And he reasons that perhaps it was divine intervention that she should be in such a powerful position at the time.
She asks him to get the other Jews together and pray about it all, that she might gain strength in some way from that. After fasting for a time she approaches the King and invites him to a feast in his honour. She wants him to bring Haman too.
At the feast she is asked what it is she wants and asks that she be allowed to hold another feast for them. Haman is highly honoured and goes home joyful. But this is marred by the presence of Mordecai who still refuses to bow to him. He decides to hang him on a flag pole.
During the night the King can not sleep and he has his secretary go over the affairs of state. It is brought to his attention that Mordecai has received no reward for his part in thwarting an assassination attempt on the King. Haman of course has come in bright and early for the feast and wants to tell the King about his plan for Mordecai. But the King gets in first.
He has Haman describe what he would do for someone that the King was pleased with if he were King. Naturally the big head thinks the reward is for himself. So he prescribes a treat he would love. And is ordered to carry it out on Mordecai.
Haman begins to realize he could be in trouble.
At the second banquet the King asks what it is the Queen wishes. She explains the predicament she is in. This is a big surprise to the King, he not realizing the religion of his wife (what a way to run an empire) but it's a bigger surprise to Haman who is now having a really bad hair day.
Enraged, the king rushes out into the garden (like you do) and Haman throws himself literally on the Queen’s mercy; where he is found by the King -who comes back just in time to think his wife is being raped. (You don’t have to be the sharpest chisel in the drawer to be a King, just the first out.) The guards tell him of the stake set up for impaling Mordecai and the king says for them to put Haman on it. He also gives Esther the house of Haman and all his property.
There is nothing to be done about the law though. He gives Esther and Modecai carte blanche to do what they can about it. Quickly, arrangements are made to thwart the previous edict by having all those that would do the dirty deed themselves killed and all their property taken by the Jews. The time period given for this is extended and the Jews make sure that there is nothing left to chance. Also a great fear of the Jews falls on the other officials and citizens of the empire so no one dares to carry out the law put forward by Haman.
This great slaughter was ended on the 13th day of the month of Adar, which is to say the middle of December. The 14th was proclaimed a day of rejoicing which today is celebrated as the festival Hanukah.
Mordecai got to be second in command of the kingdom. And Esther?
She was Scheherazade.
