The Biblical Gem Called Esther
Sex and Violence in a Little Known Masterpiece
The Scroll of Esther is the inspiration for the uniquely joyous Jewish Festival of Purim. It is read annually in synagogues but has escaped much notice otherwise.
The Plot
A king of Persia dismisses his queen because of disobedience and is advised to hold an extended beauty contest to select her successor. The contest is won by Esther, a Jewish maiden who has been instructed to keep her national origin and faith secret by her older cousin, Mordecai, who has raised her.
The king's vizier, Haman, takes offense at Mordecai's refusal to pay him homage and, unaware of Esther's ethnic and family background, decides to exterminate Mordecai and all his people. In a foreshadowing of later anti-Semitism, he persuades the king that "a certain people" is disloyal and need to be eliminated. Receiving the king's permission, he orders an attack on the Jews throughout the empire on a specified date. Mordecai learns of the order and persuades Esther to intervene with the king. Reluctant at first to risk her royal position and possibly her life, Esther confronts Haman in front of the king at a private banquet and succeeds in having Haman deposed and executed.
Esther and Mordecai, newly installed as vizier, are authorized to issue orders for the Jews to defend themselves against any who would attack them without official support. The results are overwhelming victories for the Jews and the institution of the annual Festival of Purim with special customs of exchanging delicacies and giving charity to the poor.
The Unique Features
The tale, in ten brief chapters, is in a form otherwise unknown in The Hebrew Bible. It is treated as a historical novella by many literary analysts because it cannot be pinned down to known historical figures or a definite segment of a 200-year period. However, descriptions of lavish royal celebrations, of court procedures, and of the dispatching of messages throughout the empire by relays of swift horses are consistent with historical accounts of Persia in that era.
Most remarkable is the total absence of the name of God or any explicit communications to or from Him. There is mention of fasting, weeping, and sackcloth and ashes, but not prayer. Mordecai's admonition to Esther in Chapter IV that if she failed to act that deliverance would come "from another place" is taken by Jewish commentators as a veiled reference to God.
The Scroll is rich in literary devices. Ahasuerus learns from chronicles being read to him on a sleepless night that Mordecai reported a plot against the king. He seeks advice on how to reward a hero from Haman who serendipitously appears and thinking the honors are for him, is forced to parade Mordecai through the capital. Haman erects a gallows for Mordecai but is himself hanged or impaled on it. Esther sets in motion her coup against Haman by inviting him with the king to a banquet and then tantalizes the king by postponing a request to another banquet on the next night. Haman pleads with Esther for his life and is suspected by the king of making advances to her. The day of the planned annihilation of the Jews instead results in a holiday.
The salvation of the Jews came through a series of apparent coincidences is understood by the Jewish commentators as a demonstration of Divine hidden miracles, accounting for the absence of God's name. They even perceive a hint in the fact that Esther's name shares a root with the Hebrew word for hidden.
Lovers of literature as well as religion will find much to treasure in this little book.
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