Esther

What makes Esther special?

Esther is one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible. It has a plot full of twists and a cast of interesting characters. It is also a type of story in the Jewish tradition, depicting people who go through trials and triumphs in foreign courts. The hero of the story is a woman, Esther, which was unusual for the times in which the story was written. In this tale, she is able to hide her secret of being Jewish at the Persian court and risks her own life to save her people.

The author's use of names, dates, and ideas shows that Esther is more like a modern historical novel than a history book. For example, Xerxes' wife was really named Amestris, not Vashti, and she never lost her throne. Also, the Persians were well-known for accepting other peoples' religions, not for giving orders to kill people for their beliefs. Curiously, Esther is the only biblical book that does not mention God directly. God's presence, however, may be seen as the guiding force that makes Esther queen and protects the Jewish people.

Why was Esther written?

It seems that Esther was written primarily to explain the Jewish festival of Purim celebrated in the month of Adar, which is in mid-February/mid-March. See the chart called “Jewish Calendar and Festivals,” XXB 10.0 (chart). Purim is a lively party where celebrants are encouraged to let themselves go in carefree enjoyment of the moment. The Talmud, one of Judaism's central religious books from the fifth century a.d., instructs, “Drink wine until you can no longer distinguish between ‘Blessed be Mordecai’ and ‘Cursed be Haman.’ ” Mordecai and Haman are two of the main characters in the story. Esther tells the story of Jews who triumphed in spite of plots against them.

The book of Esther survives in its original Hebrew and in a Greek version that made additions to the story. This Greek version is most often found in the Apocrypha, or secondary books of the Bible.

What's the story behind the scene?

King Cyrus the Great of Persia defeated Babylonia in 538 b.c. He gave Jews who had been forced to live in Babylonia for seventy years a chance to go home. But many of the Jews liked their new home better than the ruins of Jerusalem and decided to stay where they were. In this story, Mordecai and his cousin Esther represent those who stayed. Some scholars have suggested that the experiences of Esther and Mordecai during the reign of Ahasuerus (also called Xerxes I, 485-465 b.c.), retell an old Babylonian myth for a new purpose. In the old story, Marduk, the Babylonian god who is the hero of the myth (renamed Mordecai here), and Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love (renamed Esther in this story) defeat the evil gods that oppose them (Haman and his followers in the story). Of course, the biblical book carefully avoids calling Mordecai, Haman, or Esther “gods,” but it still emphasizes the triumph of good over evil.

How is Esther constructed?