Esther

AN INTRODUCTION Queen ‘Vashti’ was dethroned, and replaced by ‘Esther’, the fatherless girl, born in the land of captivity, whom God used for the salvation of His people from the evil plot of the tyrant ‘Haman’, which almost brought the whole Jewish people in the states of Media and Persia to perdition. It was an actual episode lived by the whole people; beside being a personal experience that touches the life of every true believer; when he uproots from his heart queen ‘Vashti’, the one with authority, and lets the humble ‘Esther’, reign in her place; not because of her riches or family prestige, but according to the exalted grace of God, which takes away from us our inner orphanage, to make God, Himself our Father, and the heavenly church our mother; to be counted as kings in the Lord, and to enjoy victory over the true ‘Haman’, the devil. As ‘Vashti’, in her haughtiness, probably refers to the literality of the law, I wish the letter dies in us, the spirit of the new covenant sets, and queen ‘Esther’ reigns; to say, together with the apostle: “In that He says, ‘A new covenant’, He has made the first obsolete. Now, what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrew 8: 13). … The book of Esther is a proclamation that the letter has grown old, and of the spirit of the new covenant, that grants salvation and life. (Hegomen Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty) 3 ESTHER ESTHER: It is claimed that the name ‘Esther’ is of an old Indian origin, meaning, (little lady), then moved to mean (a star) in Persian. She most probably was given this name after being chosen as a queen1. Her Hebrew name was ‘Hadassah’, the name of the myrtle tree. ‘Esther’, the daughter of ‘Abihail’, of the tribe of Benjamin, was born in the land of captivity, then brought by her cousin ‘Mordeccai’ who adopted her, to Shushan, the capital of Persia (Iran). THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK: It came in the ‘Telmud’ that this book was written by the great Synagogue (led by Ezra the scribe). According to St. Augustine, Ezra was the author of this book; whereas many other fathers, among whom was St. Clement of Alexandria, believe what was proclaimed by the Jewish Historian Josephus, that it was written by ‘Mordeccai’ himself. THE DATE OF ITS WRITING: As is clear from the book itself, it was written shortly after the era of king ‘Ahasuerus’ (Xerxes 486-465 B.C.); based on the fact that it talks about that king in the past tense, yet includes accurate details of the royal palace, which was later destroyed by fire forty years after the king was assassinated (425 B.C.); which indicates that the author, himself, was a Jew who lived in the land of Persia, has seen the palace, witnessed those detailed events; and was well acquainted with the names of the king’s entourage and court; as well as with the Persian words and expressions. IT’S AUTHENTICITY: Some scholars raised doubts about the authenticity of this book, based on the following points: (1)The name of the pagan king was mentioned several times, while there was no mention of the name of God (with the exception of the annex to the book of Esther which we shall discuss), nor of any prayer, or of any application of the Jewish law. This view is rebutted, that the author of this book must have been a believer in God, and its reader would become more believing in Him. Although he did not mention the name of God, yet he presented a marvelous portrait of God’s care for His people, even while they were in the land of captivity, refusing to return to Jerusalem. Some see the absence of the name of God, as a sign of forsaking them (See Deuteronomy 31: 8), because of their refusal to return to Jerusalem, together with Zerubbabel, putting their own financial interests ahead of Jerusalem and the temple of God. According to Edward Jang: [The people of God are in His hands, even though they are away from the promised land2]. Some others refer not mentioning the name of God, to that the episode was taken from the documents of the Persian royal court (2: 3). (2)Some scholars object to the historical authenticity of the episode, considering it a symbolic story; basing their view on the fact that king Xerxes was not known to marry a 1 J. Raven: Introd. To O.T.P 312. 2 Edward J. Young: An Introd. To the O.T. P349. 4 queen other than ‘Amestris’, referred to by Herodot (479 B.C.) 1, namely, in the seventh year of his reign. This objection could be answered by that, not mentioning another queen is not an evidence of her non-existence; particularly that queen ‘Vashti’ was dethroned in the third year of the king’s reign (1: 3), shortly before going to war against the Greeks; and ‘Esther’ was made queen after his return in the seventh year (2: 16), and remained a queen until the twelfth year of his reign (3: 7; 5: 3). Therefore, if Xerxus reigned for a duration of 20 years, we do not know how the situation was during the last eight years of his reign; ‘Esther’ probably died, and ‘Vashti’ probably resumed her reign. According to some, the word ‘Vashti’ was not the name of the queen, but rather a title by which she was called on account of her exalted beauty, and of the great love the king had for her; And she was the same ‘Amestris’ (referred to by ‘Herodot’), who preceded queen ‘Esther’, and probably resumed her reign later on, after God realized the mission of Esther to save her people. As to mentioning her as a queen and wife of Xerxes in the seventh year of his reign, it was because, until the seventh year, Esther was not enthroned; hence ‘Vachti’ remains a queen in the sight of the historians, even though she was not seen by the king after her rejection of his invitation, in the third year of his reign, having not been expelled from the royal palace until the enthronement of Esther. (3)Some scholars were skeptic, and had some reservations concerning certain exaggerations, like: the king’s lack of knowledge of Esther’s race; issuing the decree of the annihilation of the Jews, to take effect after 11 months; the huge sum of silver (11000 talents) paid by Haman into the hands of those who do the work; … These reservations could be answered as follows: As to the king’s ignorance of Esther’s race, the king was more interested in her beauty than in her race; probably on account of that, being born in captivity, she spoke the Persian language fluently without an accent; that her features probably did not tell about her Jewish race; and particularly that the king used to encounter her while drunk. As to the execution of the decree of annihilation after 11 months of its issue; the kingdom was so large, and the ways of transportation were two primitive at the time; beside the fact that Haman intended to execute it allover the country at the same day, which was determined after consulting the diviners, to make sure that his evil plot would not fail (3: 7) As to the huge sum of silver pledged by Haman, which constituted two thirds of the income of the Persian kingdom in one year; Haman hoped that, through confiscating the possessions and wealth of the Jews, he would be so rich to make up for his own expenditure, and even to help the king to make up for his losses in the war against the Greeks. Beside these answers to the objections of the skeptics, there are the following evidences of the authenticity of the book and the episode: a- The book refers to certain events, and elaborately confirms them by clear dates according to the Persian calendar (2: 23; 6: 1; 10: 2). b- The book presents an accurate and live description of the Persian customs, and the circumstances prevailing at that time, particularly in Shushan the citadel, the capital of Persia (1: 5, 10, 14; 2: 9, 21, 23; 3: 7, 12, 13; 4: 6, 11; 5: 4; 8: 8). c- The description of the personal character of ‘Ahasuerus’ conforms to what history tells of the fiery and loosely nature of king Xerxes, who reigned from the year 486 1 History 9: 108-113. 5 to 465 B.C1. His banquet in the third year of his reign historically conforms to his decision to wage war against the Greeks; on account of that the kings of Persia used to take such big decisions in the midst of banquets and loosely gatherings. Coming back from that war on the seventh year of his reign, according to the historical records of Herodot, the king held the banquet of Esther. d- The book presents an acceptable interpretation of the origin of the feast of ‘Purim’, which was practiced in the time of Josephus, all over the known world at that time; and was also known in the days of the Maccabees in the year 160 B.C., as ‘the feast of Mordeccai’. e- In recently discovered Persian inscriptions, the name of ‘Mordeccai’ was mentioned as one of the court officers during the reign of ‘Xerxes’, confirming the historical authenticity of the book of Esther. f- The narration of the events of the episode with such great accuracy, giving all the circumstances, and the names of the princes and officers of the Persian royal court (1: 10, 14), confirms that the episode has been a historical fact, and not a symbolic one. g- The Jews acknowledge it as an authentic book. THE PREVAILING CIRCUMSTANCES: The events of this episode took place during the period between the first return of the Jews from captivity, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, and the second return under the leadership Ezra. It confirms that God, in His salvation work, proclaims His care, even for those who refused to return to Jerusalem together with Zerubbabel. King Ahasuerus, mentioned here, is Xerxes son of Darius, known, as we previously said, for his fiery and loosely nature, as is demonstrated by the two banquets he held, one to proclaim his intention to wage war against the Greeks, and the other after his return to forget about his failure and losses in that campaign. The essence of the episode was that ‘Haman’ the prime minister of Persia and Media has issued a royal decree to annihilate all the Jews present all over the kingdom. But the watching eye of God worked to save His people on the hands of queen Esther and Mordeccai; And, it so happened that ‘Haman’ was hanged by the same gallows he has prepared for Mordeccai. God was glorified in His people, and the oracle of the psalmist is realized, saying: “The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming” (Psalm 37: 12, 13). DIVISIONS OF THE BOOK: We can call this book ‘The book of the three banquets’: the banquet of ‘Ahasuerus’, representing the joy of the mortal world; the secret banquet of Esther, representing the banquet of the cross, destructive to the devil (Haman); and the banquet of ‘Purim’, representing the joyful collective resurrection. 1- The banquet of King Ahasuerus 1 – 2 2- The banquet of queen Esther 3 – 7 3- The banquet of the feast of Purim 8 – 10 In the Septuagint version includes an annex to the book of Esther, that was not in the Hebrew text; constituting mostly prayers, messages, and dreams. St. Jerome included it in his Latin translation of the book. This annex embraced the following parts: A dream by Mordeccai(chapter11); the plot against the king(chapter12); the royal decree against 1 Ibid. 3: 97, 98; 7: 9. 6 the Jews(chapter13); the prayer of Mordeccai(chapter13: 8-17); the prayer of Esther(chapter14); the request of Mordeccai from Esther(chapter15); the request of Esther from Ahasuerus(chapter15); The royal decree to save the Jews(chapter16) .