THE BOOK OF ESTHER
Lesson 2: Chapters 2-3
Esther Becomes Queen and the Decree to Exterminate the Jews
Lord of Mercy,
Throughout history, Your covenant faithful have suffered from the prejudices and hatreds of non-believers. Despite their struggles, they persevered because they believed You are more powerful than the forces of evil that assailed them. Give us, Lord, Esther's beauty of soul and humility and the wisdom and firmness of belief of Your servant Mordecai. Help us to understand that the persistence of faith in the midst of trials will make us stronger and lead to a heavenly reward at the end of our faith journey. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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If the Lord
places more importance on beauty of soul than on that of the body, what must he
think of artificial beautification when he abhors so thoroughly every sort of
lie? [...] As for women, the only one we know of who used ointments without
blame is Esther. Her action in making herself beautiful had a mystical
significance; however, for, as the wife of her king, she obtained deliverance
for her people by her beauty when they were being slaughtered.
St. Clement of
Alexandria (AD 150-215), Christ the Educator, 3.3.12
Ahasuerus/Xerxes' father, Darius I, reigned for thirty-six years and expanded the empire to India in the east and to the borders of Greece in the west. He reorganized the empire into a system of satrapies, most as large as modern nations, with each satrap governed by three leaders: a governor, a general, and a Persian noble who reported directly to the king known as "the Eyes and Ears of the King." The only failure of his reign was the First Greco-Persian War, and Ahasuerus' goal was to avenge his father by launching a Second Greco-Persian War, had the same result as the first. The Battle of Salamis in 480 BC that ended in the defeat of Ahasuerus' Persian army and navy ended the Second Greco-Persian War and took place between Chapters 1 and 2 in the Book of Esther after which Ahasuerus returned to Susa.
Archaeologists discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Susa in 1851. Most of what can be seen in the ruins of Susa today is the massive terrace Darius I built and the site of Ahasuerus' feast Chapter 1. Darius constructed an enormous palace consisting of a private residence of 9 acres and a public audience area covering 3 acres. The audience hall, known in Persian architecture as an Apadana, was a hypostyle hall (having many columns supporting a roof) with porticoes featured 72 columns, each 65 feet high and weighing more than 25 tons. Centered between the two central rows was a low stone platform that marked the site of the king's throne. According to the Book of Nehemiah 2:1-8, it was where Artaxerxes I sat when Nehemiah requested permission to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city's walls (Book of Nehemiah Chapter 2).
The Apadana was the new residential portion of the palace to which admittance was strictly controlled. In Esther's time, there was an impressive 205-by-175-foot plaza lined with depictions of soldiers and lions where Ahasuerus held his banquet in Esther 1:5. From the outer courtyard, courtiers had to pass through a double guard house to reach the middle court. Another double guardhouse secured entry into the inner courtyard (where Esther will come to petition the king in Chapter 5). Immediately south of the inner court was the king's private residence, including his throne room so vividly described in Esther 5:1 and confirmed by French archaeologists who continually excavated the area for nearly 100 years (1884-1979).
Chapter 2: Esther Becomes Queen
Esther 2:1-4 ~ The Suggestion to Replace Vashti With a
Beauty Contest
1 Sometime
after this, when the king's wrath had subsided, Ahasuerus remembered Vashti,
how she had behaved, and the measures taken against her. 2 The king's gentlemen-in-waiting said,
"A search should be made on the king's behalf for beautiful young virgins, 3 and the king appointed commissioners
throughout the provinces of his realm to bring all these beautiful young
virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the harem under the authority of Hegai the
king's eunuch, custodian of the women. Here he will give them whatever they
need for enhancing their beauty, 4 and
the girl who pleases the king can take Vashti's place as queen." This advice
pleased the king and he acted on it.
The King returned to Susa in 480 BC after his defeat by the Greeks. The defeat must have shattered his self-confidence as a military commander because he never again took personal command of the Persian army. He needed something to raise his spirits, and so his gentlemen-in-waiting suggested that he send out an edict to collect beautiful virgins to find a girl to replace Vashti as queen (see 2:16-17). The girls would have been young; perhaps between the ages of twelve and fifteen years. He sent the order to bring the beautiful maidens to Susa from all the provinces across the Persian Empire. Hegai, the king's eunuch, was appointed the guardian of the young women.
The "harem" in verse 3 is literally "the house of the women," and verse 4 suggests the king's plan for the ultimate outcome of the beauty contest.
Esther 2:5-7 ~ Mordecai and Hadassah
5 Now in
the citadel of Susa there lived a Jew called Mordecai son of Jair, son of
Shimei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, 6 who had been deported from Jerusalem among the captives
taken away with Jeconiah king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, 7 and was now bringing up a certain
Hadassah, otherwise called Esther, his uncle's daughter, who had lost both
father and mother; the girl had a good figure and a beautiful face, and on the
death of her parents Mordecai had adopted her as his daughter.
This passage repeats LXX 1:m-r and also appears as a repeat in the Septuagint, but it contains additional information concerning Hadassah/Esther. Curiously, the name Hadassah is missing from all versions of the LXX. The "citadel" is a fortification within the city of Susa with the royal palace within the fortress.
As in LXX Chapter 1, the mention of Mordecai's genealogy as a "son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin" (verse 5) will tie into the hatred the Persian's king's favorite royal minister, Haman, will feel toward Mordecai. Mordecai is a descendant of the Benjaminite King Saul whose father was a man name Kish (1 Sam 9:1; 10:21; 14:51).
6 who had been deported from Jerusalem1
among the captives taken away with Jeconiah king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon
Jeconiah (Jechoniah), also called Jehoiachin, was a
Davidic king of Judah taken into Babylonian exile in 598 BC (2 Kng 24:8-17;
25:27-30; 2 Chron 36:9-10).
Question: How is King Jeconiah (alternate
spellings are Jechoniah and Jehoiachin) a significant name in the New
Testament? See Mt 1:11-16.
Answer: His name appears in St. Matthew's genealogy of Jesus.
Question: What was Mordecai's kinship relationship
to Hadassah/Esther? See 2:7 and 15.
Answer: He was her much older cousin, the nephew
of her father, and he adopted her as his daughter.
As mentioned in LXX 1:c, it is unlikely that Mordecai was one of the Babylonian captives. If he were a member of the second group of exiles in 598 BC when the Babylonians deposed young King Jeconiah, he would have been over a hundred years old. In Scripture, it is common to telescope generations with the phrase "son of" meaning "descendant of" as in Matthew 1:1 where Jesus is called the "son of David, son of Abraham." It is more likely that his parents or grandparents were among those taken into exile by the Babylonians, and he was born in exile. Since there is no mention that he had a Jewish name, it may also suggest he was born and raised in exile and received a Persian theophoric name related to the pagan god Marduk.
However, Mordecai is not an authentic personal name from this period. A name similar to his appears in Aramaic documents as Mrdk (without vowels) and in cuneiform tablets as Mar-du-uk-ka or Mar-duk-ka. In the LXX, his name appears as not as Mordecai but as Mardochaeus, similar to the Persian name in the cuneiform tablets. There is evidence of Mordecai's existence in a cuneiform text dating to the last years of Darius I or the early years of his son Ahasuerus I/Xerxes I. The tablet mentions a government official named Marduka who sat at the king's gate (see Est 2:19; 5:13; 6:10) and was later rewarded with broad administrative authority (see Esth 8:2 and 10:2).
The cousin he raised as his daughter, however, had the
Jewish name Hadassah, referring to the flower from the myrtle tree. She also
had a Persian name, Esther that was either related to the goddess Ishtar or to
the Persian word stareh that means "star." Israelites/Jews living in
pagan lands often had two names.
Question: Can you think of several examples of
Israelites/Jews living in foreign lands and using pagan names? See Gen 41:45,
Dan 1:6-7, and Acts 13:9.
Answer:
Esther 2:8-11 ~ The Royal Edict to Collect Beautiful Virgins
8 On the
promulgation of the royal command and edict, a great number of girls were
brought to the citadel of Susa where they were entrusted to Hegai. Esther too,
was taken to the king's palace and entrusted to Hegai, the custodian of the
women. 9 The girl pleased
him and won his favor. Not only did he quickly provide her with all she needed
for her dressing room and her meals, but he gave her seven special maids from
the king's household and transferred her and her maids to the best part of the
harem. 10 Esther had not
divulged her race or parentage, since Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. 11 Mordecai walked up and down in front
of the courtyard of the harem all day and every day, to learn how Esther was
and how she was being treated.
Archaeology confirms a sizeable Jewish population living in the Medo-Persian Empire in the discovery of an archive in the Persian city of Nippur in southern Mesopotamia and dating to the period of Ahasuerus' son Artaxerxes I (465-424 BC) and his son Darius II (424-405 BC). The archive contained the names of about 100 Jews living in the city with some having attained positions of importance and wealth.
When beautiful girls were discovered, they were taken into the custody of the crown without their parent's consent, and Esther was among those young women. God's hand of protection was on Esther, and she won the approval of the chief eunuch in charge of the women. Esther received food from the royal table which means she did not observe Jewish dietary laws like Daniel (Dan 1:8-20). To refuse Persian food by claiming religious restrictions would have revealed her Jewish origin and violated her vow to Mordecai. Verses 9 and anticipate her success.
The Biblical text does not explain why Mordecai commanded her not to divulge her ethnic origin. The only explanation is that God was at work in the events that were unfolding. Verse 11 relates that her cousin did not abandon her to her fate but continued to be concerning for her welfare.
Notice in 2:9 that the eunuch assigned seven maidservants to Esther. The number seven appears twelve times in the narrative, and seven feasts take place as the story unfolds. In the significance of numbers in Scripture, both seven and twelve are among the so-called "perfect numbers."2 See the document "The Significance of Numbers in Scripture."
Esther 2:12-14 ~ The Selection Process
12 Each
girl had to appear in turn before King Ahasuerus after a delay of twelve months
fixed by the regulations for the women; this preparatory period was occupied as
follows: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices and lotions
commonly used for feminine beauty treatment. 13 When each girl went to the king, she was given whatever
she wanted to take with her, since she then moved from the harem into the royal
household. 14 She went
there in the evening, and the following morning returned to another harem
entrusted to the care of Shaashag the king's eunuch, custodian of the
concubines. She did not go to the king anymore, he was particularly pleased
with her and had her summoned by name.
Dry skin was a common affliction of women in a dry climate, especially if a girl was not from a wealthy family. Soft skin was a prerequisite for a future concubine or royal queen. Beauty was often determined not only in the perfection of form but by unblemished skin. Myrrh was a resin used in incense, ointments, and perfumes.
Question: In addition to the beauty regiment, why
might the young women have remained in seclusion for a year before their
presentation to the king?
Answer: The delay was probably to ensure that none
of the young women were pregnant, and later if one became pregnant, it was the
king's child since he had physical relations with each girl.
Each girl spent one night with the king after which she became his concubine and was consigned to a second harem under the protection of another eunuch.
Esther 2:15-18 ~ The King Chooses Esther
15 But
when it was the turn of Esther the daughter of Abihail, whose nephew Mordecai
had adopted her as his own daughter, to go into the king's presence, she did
not ask for anything beyond what had been assigned her by Hegai, the king's
eunuch, custodian of the women. Esther won the approval of all who saw her. 16 She was brought to King Ahasuerus in
his royal apartments in the tenth month, which is called Tebeth, in the seventh
year of his reign; 17 and
the king liked Esther better than any of the other women; none of the other
girls found so much favor and approval with him. So he set the royal diadem on
her head and proclaimed her queen instead of Vashti. 18 The king then gave a great banquet,
Esther's banquet, for all his officers-of-state and ministers, decreed a
holiday for all the provinces and distributed largesse with royal prodigality.
As the royal custodian of the harem who knew the king tastes, Hegai was an invaluable ally for Esther who accepted all his advice. The tenth month of Tebeth in modern calendars is December/January. The seventh year of the king's reign was 479 BC (this is the seventh mention of the number seven in the narrative). The king followed his selection of Esther as queen by giving a royal banquet in her honor and distributing gifts.
Question: What future event in salvation history
does the king's wedding banquet for Esther bring to mind for Christians
awaiting the return of Christ the Divine Bridegroom? See Revelation 19:5-10
Answer: The wedding banquet hosted by the king
recalls for Christians the future wedding banquet of the King of kings when
Christ returns to claim His Bride, the Church. At that time, all the angels
and saints will gather for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and His Bride in the
heavenly Jerusalem.
The event of Esther's marriage to a pagan king raises the question of Yahweh's prohibition against members of His covenant marrying pagans (Dt 7:3-4; Judg 3:5-6). However, Esther's marriage to a pagan was not her free-will choice. She was a pawn in events beyond her control.
Esther 2:19-23 ~ Mordecai and Haman
19 When
Esther, like the other girls, had been transferred to the second harem, 20 she did not divulge her parentage or
race, in obedience to the orders of Mordecai, whose instructions she continued
to follow as when she had been under his care. 21 At this time Mordecai was attached to the Chancellery
and two malcontents, Bigthan and Teresh, eunuchs in the king's service as
Guards of the Threshold, plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus. 22 Mordecai came to hear of this and
informed Queen Esther, who in turn, on Mordecai's authority, told the king. 23 The matter was investigated and proved
to be true. The two conspirators were sent to the gallows, and the incident was
recorded in the Annals, in the royal presence.
This account repeats LXX 1:m-r, but it is included as a second account in the LXX text. Esther, like the other girls who had physical relations with the king, was transferred to the permanent harem.
21
At this time Mordecai was attached to the Chancellery
The royal department of "the Chancellery" is literally
"the king's gate" and refers to the king's administrative department that was
often carried housed in the rooms associated with the main gate leading into
the royal compound. Archaeologists excavated the main city gate of Susa in
1970 and uncovered the gatehouse where, according to 2:21, Mordecai had an
administrative office. The gatehouse was an imposing structure about 87.5
yards (80 m.) east of the palace with a center room about 23 yards (21 m)
square. Huge columns flanked the structure. An inscription in three languages
from the period of Ahasuerus/Xerxes celebrated the construction of the
gatehouse by his father Darius I and honored the Persian god Ahura Mazda.
Question: Is it plausible that an Israelite/Jew
could have achieved the position of a pagan king's minister? Can you name four
other Israelites/Jews named in the Bible who achieved a position of prominence
within a pagan court in the ancient Near-East? See
Gen 41:37-43;
Dan 2:46-49; 14:1-2;
Ezra 7:1-10;
Neh 1:11c-2:8; 5:14.
Answer: Joseph son of Jacob-Israel became the Vizier
of the Pharaoh of Egypt, Daniel became an advisor of Babylonian kings and the
Persian king who conquered Babylon, Ezra and Nehemiah served Persian King
Artaxerxes, the son of Ahasuerus-Xerxes I, as Persian governors of Judah.
The eunuchs are the same men named in the LXX account in
LXX 1:m-r where Mordecai discovered a plot to murder the king. This plot
failed, but Ahasuerus bedchamber guards will assassinate him
in 424 BC.
Question: What are the differences between this
account and Mordecai's involvement in the LXX 1:1m-r account?
Answer: In this account:
23 The
matter was investigated and proved to be true. The two conspirators were sent
to the gallows, and the incident was recorded in the Annals, in the royal
presence.
"The Annals," literally "the book of the things of the
days," was the official record of royal actions during a king's reign. Greek
historian Herodotus (484-425 BC) referred to an official list of the Persian
kings' benefactors kept in the Persian archives. It was the practice to record
acts of loyalty in the royal annals. While Mordecai's good deed was listed
into the official record and he received a promotion, the granting of a monetary
reward was overlooked.
The two conspirators were sent to the gallows
The traitors probably weren't hanged but impaled.
Herodotus also confirms the Persian practice of impalement or crucifixion for
criminals (History, 3.125, 129; 4.43). According to a Persian
inscription, Darius I impaled 3,000 Babylonians after putting down a rebellion
(see Darius I's Behistun Inscription relief).3
Chapter 3: The Peril of the Jews Residing in the Persian Empire
The story presents Mordecai as the prototypical Jew who is wise, judicious, and devoted to Yahweh. Esther is the humble and dutiful Jewish daughter, and Haman is the worst example of someone who is proud and overbearing and allows himself to become Satan's tool in his hatred of the Jews as God's holy covenant people.
Esther 3:1-6 ~ Haman Becomes a Royal Favorite, and the
Enmity Grows Between Haman and Mordecai
1 Shortly afterwards,
King Ahasuerus singled out Haman son of Hammedatha, a native of Agag [an
Agagite], for promotion. He raised him in rank, granting him precedence over
all his colleagues, the other officers-of-state, 2 and all the royal officials employed at the Chancellery used to
bow low and prostrate themselves whenever Haman appeared; such was the king's
command. Mordecai refused either to bow or to prostrate himself. 3 "Why do you flout the royal command?" the
officials of the Chancellery asked Mordecai. 4 Day after day they asked him this, but he took no notice of
them. In the end, they reported the matter to Haman, to see whether Mordecai
would persist in his attitude, since he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 Haman could see for himself that Mordecai did
not bow or prostrate himself in his presence; he became furiously angry 6 And, on being told what race Mordecai belonged
to, he thought it beneath him merely to get rid of Mordecai but made up his
mind to wipe out all the members of Mordecai's race, the Jews, living in
Ahasuerus' entire empire.
In verse 1, there is the reminder that Haman is the descendant of King Agag of the Amalekites who were massacred by the Israelites during the time of King Saul, a member of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Sam Chapter 15). The Amalekites there the perennial enemies of the Jews (Ex 17:8-16; Num 24:20; Dt 25:17-19; 2 Sam 15).
Question: Why did Mordecai refuse to bow or
prostrate himself to Haman the Agagite (descendant of King Agag) Amalekite?
Did Jews or Israelites normally refuse to bow or prostrate themselves before
kings and their ministers? See Ex 20:3-5 and compare to
Gen 23:7; 42:6;
2 Sam 14:4;
1 Kng 1:16, 23;
2 Kng 4:37; etc.
Answer: Exodus 20:3-5 forbids having gods to rival
Yahweh or to make or bow down to a carved image or any likeness for purposes of
worship. There is, however, no Biblical decree concerning a prohibition
against showing respect for pagan kings nor is there evidence of an
Israelite/Jew refusing to bow to a king.
The act of bowing down to a royal dignitary or a king was not objectionable of a Jew since it was an act of customary respect in the ancient Near East and even practiced in Israel. Therefore, Mordecai's refusal is not an act of fidelity to God and His Law as in Daniel 1:8; 3:12 and 6:14. It must be instead a reaction of racial pride. It can only be concluded that Mordecai viewed Haman the Amalekite as a mortal enemy. However, he had to know that his refusal to bow down in recognition of Haman's exalted status only increased Haman's hostility toward him and his people.
6 And, on being
told what race Mordecai belonged to, he thought it beneath him merely to get
rid of Mordecai but made up his mind to wipe out all the members of Mordecai's
race, the Jews, living in Ahasuerus' entire empire.
Question: How is Mordecai's refusal to do homage
to Haman a link to Mordecai's dream in LXX Chapter 1?
Answer: It is the beginning of the war between the
two dragons: Haman and Mordecai.
Esther 3:7-9 ~ Lots are Cast to Determine the Day of
the Jewish Holocaust
7 In the first
month, that is the month of Nisan, of the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, the pur
(that is, the lot) was cast in Haman's presence, to determine the day and the
month. The lot falling on the twelfth month, which is Adar.
8 Haman said to King Ahasuerus,
"There is a certain unassimilated nation scattered among the other nations
throughout the provinces of your realm; their laws are different from those of
all the other nations, and the royal laws they ignore; hence it is not in the
king's interests to tolerate them. 9 If
their destruction be signed, so please the king, I am ready to pay ten thousand
talents of silver to the king's receivers, to be credited to the royal
treasury."
The date is in the spring of 474 BC, five years after Esther married the king according to how we count the years but six years as the ancients counted. The word pur means "lot." It is the origin of the name of the Feast of Purim that means lots in the plural. The word pur appears in ancient Akkadian texts with the same meaning as in 3:7. This verse introduces the concept of destiny into the narrative (see Prov 16:33; Acts 1:26). The text only mentions the month of Adar (February/March) and not the day which we later learn is the fourteenth day (LXX 3:13f).
Question: Why did Haman cast the lot? See LXX 3:13f-g
Answer: He probably wanted to determine the most
auspicious month for the massacre of the Jews as it is confirmed in LXX 3:13f.
8 Haman said to
King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain unassimilated nation scattered among the
other nations throughout the provinces of your realm; their laws are different
from those of all the other nations, and the royal laws they ignore; hence it
is not in the king's interests to tolerate them.
The argument Haman makes to the king for the destruction
of all the Jews living in the Persian Empire is that they have not assimilated
because their laws and customs are different from the other peoples in the
empire. This was always an effective charge to bring against an enemy. The
Roman governor and historian, Tacitus (died c. AD 120), for example, mentioned
similar charges against Christians in His Annals XV, 44.
Question: How are the Jews different from their
pagan neighbors?
Answer: Instead of honoring a pantheon of pagan
gods, they worship only one God and believe that their first allegiance is to
His laws, prohibitions, and commandments.
Notice that Haman so desires the king to authorize the holocaust against the Jews, that he offers a substantial sum to pay for the expenses incurred in the form of ten thousand talents of silver equal to about 375 tons of silver. It can be presumed that the money would have come from the plundered wealth of the Jewish victims. The "king's receivers" in verse 9 could refer to either the revenue officers who would bring the looted funds to the treasury or to those who would carry out the massacre.
Question: What action did God take in the casting
of the lot? How did God intervene in the selection of the date?
Answer: God determined how the lot fell with a
date twelve months in the future or eleven months as we count, which allowed time
for Mordecai and Esther to formulate a plan.
Esther 3:10-13 ~ The King Signs the Edict
10 The king then
took his signet ring off his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the
persecutor of the Jews. 11 "Keep
the money," he said, "and you can have the people too; do what you like with
them." 12 The royal scribes were
therefore summoned for the thirteenth day of the first month, when they wrote
out the orders addressed by Haman to the king's satraps, to the governors
ruling each province and to the principal officials of each people, to each province
in its own script and to each people in its own language. The edict was signed
in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with his ring, 13 and letters were sent by runners to every
province of the realm, ordering the destruction, slaughter and annihilation of
all Jews, young and old, including women and children, on the same day, the
thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and the seizing of their
possessions.
The king tells Haman that it is not necessary for him to supply the silver he offered to the royal treasure. Those carrying out the massacre can keep what they take; which is incredible when one considers the sum Haman offered was almost two-thirds of the annual income of the empire. This reward for murder is reminiscent of the pogrom against the Jews in Germany and the other European countries the Germans controlled before and during World War II. People who had lived as neighbors to Jewish families for generations betrayed them and looted their property.
12 The royal
scribes were therefore summoned for the thirteenth day of the first month, when
they wrote out the orders addressed by Haman
Notice that it was not the king who dictated the royal
edict but Haman. Ironically, the date the king signed the edict was on the
thirteenth of Nisan, on the eve of the Jewish Passover, a feast that remembered
God intervening to save the minority population of the Israelites from the
curse of death in Egypt (Ex chapter 12). The month of Nisan is the first month
in the Persian calendar (the Persian new year began on the spring equinox) and
is the March/April period according to modern calendars. The lot schedules the
massacre in the month of Adar in the twelfth month, twelve months later as the
ancients counted.
The decree was signed on and sealed with the king's signet ring. Signets functioned as a signature to authorize or authenticate a document. It made an impression in clay or wax, and the seals were worn either as rings or on a cord around the neck. The king first presented his signet ring to Haman, authorizing him as the minister in charge of disposing of the Jews, but later he will reclaim the ring at the event that signals a dramatic turn in the story (Esth 8:2, 8).
Esther 3:13a-g LXX 3:1-7 ~ The Text of the King's Edict
13a The text of
the letter was as follows: "The Great King, Ahasuerus, to the governors of the
hundred and twenty-seven provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia, and to
their subordinate district commissioners: 13b
Being placed in authority over many nations and ruling the whole world,
I have resolved never to be carried away by the insolence of power, but always
to rule with moderation and clemency, so as to assure for my subjects a life
ever free from storms and, offering my kingdom the benefits of civilization and
free transit from end to end, to restore that peace which all men desire. 13c In consultation with our advisers as to how
this aim is to be effected, we have been informed by one of them, eminent among
us for prudence and well proved for his unfailing devotion and unshakeable
trustworthiness, and in rank second only to our majesty, Haman by name, 13d that there is, mingled among all the tribes
of the earth, a certain ill-disposed people, opposed by its laws to every other
nation and continually defying the royal ordinances, in such a way as to
obstruct that form of government assured by us to the general good. 13e Considering therefore that his people,
unique of its kind, is in complete opposition to all humanity from which it
differs by its outlandish laws, that it is hostile to our interests and that it
commits the most heinous crimes, to the point of endangering the stability of
the realm: 13f We command that
those persons designated to you in the letter written by Haman, who was
appointed to watch over our interests and is a second father to us, be all
destroyed, root and branch, including women and children, by the swords of
their enemies, without any pity or mercy, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth
month, Adar, of the present year, 13g so
that these past and present malcontents being in one day forcibly thrown down
to Hades, our government may henceforward enjoy perpetual stability and peace."
"The Great King, Ahasuerus, to the governors of the
hundred and twenty-seven provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia, and to
their subordinate district commissioners:
The king begins his letter by calling himself, in the
literal Greek text, "the King of kings." It is a title that rightfully only
belongs to Jesus Christ (Rev 17:14; 19:16).
Question: How is the king's edict symbolically
linked to Mordecai's dream in LXX 1a-l?
Answer: It signals what will be the "day of
darkness and blood, of affliction and distress, oppression and great
disturbance on earth" when "the entire upright nations were thrown into
consternation at the fear of the evils awaiting it and prepared for death" (LXX
1: g-h).
The king's testimony in verse 13b belies the whole intent
of the decree which is to murder innocent people without a trial or any real
evidence that they deserve to die. He does make an accurate statement in 13e
that the Jews are "unique."
Question: How were they "unique" among all the
peoples of the Persian Empire and the world at this time in world history? See
verse 8 and 13c LXX; also Dan 3:10-12; Wis 2:12-13.
Answer: They were the only people on earth to practice
a monotheistic religion by worshipping one God and not many gods. Christianity
was a monotheistic religion born from Jewish founders (Jesus and His Apostles
and disciples) in the 1st century AD, and the third monotheistic
religion of Islam didn't enter the list world of religions until the 7th
century AD.
Since the Jews worshipped only their one God and condemned the worship of other gods, people of multi-god religions considered them intolerant and "haters of humanity." Hades in verse 13g refers to the "abode of the dead" (using the Greek term). The Jews referred to the abode of the dead as Sheol; it is not the Hell of the damned (CCC 632-33). Jesus describes the different states of the wicked and the righteous after physical death in Sheol/Hades in Luke 16:19-31.
The two great dragons in Mordecai's dream are preparing to fight, and the Jew's salvation will depend on the humble "little stream" that is Esther. A gleam of hope comes from knowing that in the history of the people of God, the struggle between the Amalekites (Haman's ancestors) and the Israelites (Mordecai's ancestors) ended in victory for the Israelites/Jews. The conflict between Haman and Mordecai symbolizes the struggle between the people of God and the powers of the world. In that life or death battle, Israel, with God's help, remains victorious.
Concerning the choices Christians have to make when their obedience to God comes into conflict with the secular world, St. Josemaria Escriva wrote, "When the defense of truth is at stake, how can one desire neither to displease God nor to clash with one's surroundings? These two things are opposed: it is either the one or the other! The sacrifice has to be a holocaust where everything is burned up, even what we call our reputation" (St J. Escriva, Furrow, 34).
Esther 3:14-15 ~ The Publishing of the Royal Decree
14 Copies of this
decree, to be promulgated as law in each province, were published to the
various peoples, so that each might be ready for the day aforementioned. 15 At the king's command, the runners set out
with all speed; the decree was first promulgated in the citadel of Susa. While
the king and Haman gave themselves up to feasting and drinking, consternation
reigned in the city of Susa.
The king orders the decree delivered to every province in the empire while he and Haman celebrate in a feast. Their banquet is the fifth of seven feasts in the Book of Esther:
The reasons Haman's hatred and the planned massacre of the Jews living in Persia in the 5th century BC are not any different from anti-Semitic prejudices throughout history and even in recent times. In the Vatican II document Nostra aetate, the Church took a stand against anti-Semitism by proclaiming: "The Church reproves every form of persecution against whomsoever it may be directed. Remembering, then, her common heritage with the Jews and moved not by any political consideration, but solely by the religious motivation of Christian charity, she deplores all hatreds, persecutions, displays of antisemitism leveled at any time or from any source against the Jews" (Vatican II, Nostra aetate, 4).
Questions for discussion or reflection:
As the secular world moves farther and farther away from
Christian values, the accusation that Christians are intolerant "haters" and do
not conform to the norms of the times has already been leveled against the
beliefs and practices of those who are obedient to the teachings of Jesus
Christ. List what actions have become acceptable behavior in secular society
and are abominable sins according to the laws of God (cf., Rom 1:24-32; Gal 5:19-21). How have other Christians contributed to this loss of righteousness
by conforming to the norms of the secular world? Could the planned destruction
of the Jews in Persia and that happened to Jews in Germany and the territories
they controlled in WWII, also happen to Christians in the future?
Endnotes:
1. The LXX verses names Jerusalem twice in 1:1c and 10:3b
and the Hebrew text only once in 2:6. Of the 660 times that the name "Jerusalem"
appears in the Hebrew text of the Bible, all but five instances appear with a
shorter version of the spelling. Jerusalem in modern Hebrew is usually
pronounced as Ye-roo-sha-lai-eem. However, early in the history of the Hebrew
language, words weren't written with the vowel sounds we use today, nor with
many of the vowel letters, typically waw and yod, but also aleph
and heh that appear more frequently in spellings later as the Hebrew
language developed. Early in the Hebrew language's development, Jerusalem was
spelled without the final yod, but with the yod five times
recorded in Esther 2:6, Jeremiah 26:18, 1 Chronicles 3:5, and 2 Chronicles 25:1
and 32:9 where the spelling of Jerusalem appears with the extra yod and
pronounced as "Ye-roo-shi-lai-eem" as it is by Jews living in Israel today. What
is curious is that the Masoretes, the medieval Jewish scholars who added the
vowels and cantillation marks to the Hebrew Bible to standardize pronunciations
and make it easier to read, pointed the shortened spelling of the word Jerusalem
so that it should be pronounced as if the yod were present. They did
this because the Masoretes were convinced that Jerusalem was always pronounced
in antiquity the way it was pronounced in their time and the way it is
pronounced today in modern Israel: as Yerushalayim (Ye-roo-shi-lai-eem), not as
Yerushalem (Ye-roo-sha-em). The problem was that until October 9, 2018, there
was no archaeological evidence to prove the pronunciation with the yod
spelling. On that date, there was a dramatic unveiling of a section of a stone
column unearthed during an excavation near Binyanei Ha'Uma in Jerusalem. On
the face of the column was a 2000-year-old inscription written in Hebrew
letters in a style dating to the reign of Herod the Great (ruled 37-1 BC). Someone
from the first century BC had jotted down his name and the name of his city in
an inscription that read, "Hananiah son of Dodalos of Yershalayim. " He wrote
the full spelling of name of the city that included the letter yod
between the lamed and the final mem at the end to yield the
pronunciation as Ye-roo-shi-lai-eem, just as in Esther 2:6 and as the city's
name is pronounced in Jerusalem today ("A Little Jot on a Jerusalem Column" by Dr.
Robert R. Cargill, BAR Jan/Feb 2019, page 6).
2. In the Hebrew text of Esther, the number seven appears twelve times (1:1, 5, 10 twice, 14; 2:9, 16, LXX 3:13a; 8:9, LXX 8:12b; 9:16, 30). The number seven signifies fullness and completion, and twelve is the number symbolizing the twelve tribes of the covenant people descended from the twelve sons of Jacob-Israel. It also symbolizes divine government represented by the twelve Apostles, the spiritual fathers of the New Covenant Church.
3. The Israelites practiced "hanging" to exhibit a corpse but not as a means of execution (see Dt 21:22-23; Josh 8:29; 10:26; 1 Sam 31:8-10; 2 Sam 4:12; 21:9-10).
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