Godly Conversations: February 2013

Today is Purim, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the courageous liberation of the Jewish people from sure destruction in the ancient Persian Empire, as it is recorded in the Book of Esther. According to the Book of Esther, in the Hebrew Bible, Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus (presumed to be Xerxes I of Persia), planned to kill all the Jews in the empire, but his plans were foiled by Mordecai and his adopted daughter Queen Esther. The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing.

Traditionally, on Purim, the Book of Esther is read aloud all the way through, twice.
However, the biblical text can be a bit repetitive and dense in places, so below is a paraphrase of the Book of Esther for those of us who are new to the story.

The Story of Queen Esther

Chapter 1

This story takes place in the time of King Ahasuerus (whose name means “Mighty Man”), who ruled a huge kingdom that stretched all the way from India to Ethiopia. . In the third year of his reign he gave a huge, very fancy, very elaborate banquet for all of his officials and couriers and nobles and governors. Everybody who was anybody was there. And the banquet lasted 180 days – almost three months. Can you image? A party that lasts almost three months? And at the end that banquet the king gave another banquet in his palace garden for everyone who lived in the city, the rich men and the poor men alike. Although this banquet lasted only seven days, it was over the top as well. There were fine linens on the tables, couches of gold and silver, and marble and mother of pearl –of-pearl on the pavement. The finest wine was served and the kings rule was that there were , quote, “no restrictions!” Every man’s wish was to be indulged. And Queen Vashti gave a banquet for women, as well. It was party time in the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with a capital P!

The king gave a banquet in his palace garden for everyone who lived in the city, the rich men and the poor men alike. As were all of the king’s banquets, it was over the top. There were fine linens on the tables, couches of gold and silver, and marble and mother of pearl –of-pearl on the pavement. The finest wine was served and the kings rule was that there were , quote, “no restrictions!”

In the seventh day of the banquet, when the king was…..merry with wine, as the scripture says, he ordered the seven eunuchs (eunuchs are slave, men who guard the ruler’s harem of women. ) to bring Queen Vaschti to him in her royal crown so that his guests can see how beautiful she is. But the queen, for some unknown reason refused to come. The king was outraged. The scripture says that his fury burned within him.

The king followed tradition and consulted his sages, his wise ones and asked what he should do/ “What,” he asked, “shall be done according to law, to Queen Vashti for failing to obey the command of the king?” One of the wise men said to the king, “Queen Vashti has committed an offense not only against your majesty but also against the officials and against all the people of your kingdom. Because the Queen’s behavior might rub off on other women and they too might refuse to come when their husbands calls them. As we speak, “ suggested the king’s counselor, “ as we speak there are probably women throughout the kingdom who are already telling their husbands that if the king’s wife does not have to obey her husband, neither do they. And there will be no end to this scorn and provocation! ” In essence, every man in the kingdom will hereafter be as humiliated as is the king.

The wise ones told the king to write and edict and sign it into law that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of His Majesty. They told Ahasuerus to strip Vashti of her crown and to find another queen who was more worthy. If you do this, it will echo through your realm and all wives will treat their husbands with respect. The proposal was approved by the king and his ministers. And a notice was sent to every man in the kingdom in his own language, that every man had authority in his own home.

Chapter 2

So, all of the beautiful young virgins of the land were taken to the royal fortress and assembled in the harem under the guard of the chief eunuch. They were given cosmetics, says the scripture, and whichever one pleased the King, she would be queen, instead of Vashti.

In the royal fortress lived a Jew who had been exiled (the Hebrew verb is literally “removed”) from Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. His name was Mordecai. And he was the guardian of his uncle’s orphaned daughter Esther, who was his cousin. Esther (her Hebrew name is Hadassah, which means myrtle) was beautiful and fine of figure and when her parents died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter. Esther was among the virgins assembled in the fortress harem. And the chief eunuch took a liking to her and so he gave her special treatment – including seven maids from the king’s palace. Esther did not reveal to anyone that she was a Jew, a refugee, in effect. And Mordecai, her guardian, kept a close watch on her progress at the palace.

Each virgin in the harem spent the next 12 months beautifying herself. And at the end of 12 months, each would go before the king. And whatever each one wanted to take with her to her “interview” with the king, she was granted. Each one would go to the king in the evening and leave in the morning, and she would not return unless summoned by the king. When it was Esther’s turn, in the tenth month of the year, the chief eunuch asked what she would like to take with her to her “interview” but Esther said she would take only what the eunuch advised, nothing more. Esther was well liked by all.

The scripture reads: “the king loved Esther more than all the other women…so he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti..” And the king gave a huge banquet for Esther. (the next line in the text referring to a second gathering of virgins is thought to be a scribal error – so we will skip it) Esther obeyed her guardian Mordecai and did not reveal to anyone that she was a Jew.

One day Mordecai was sitting at the palace gate and he overheard two of the eunuchs plotting to do away with King Ahasuerus. Mordecai told Queen Esther of the plot he had overheard and the Queen told the king, and she told the king of Mordecai’s loyalty. The plot was investigated and found to be true and the eunuchs were….sent to God.

Chapter 3

Some time later, King Ahasuerus promoted an Agagite named Haman to the highest seat in the land, except for the king. The king ordered all of the courtiers in the palace to kneel and bow before Haman. But Mordecai, for some unknown reason, refused. The king’s courtiers asked Mordecai why he refused the king’s order , but they got no answer, except that Mordecai explained that he was a Jew - you remember in 1 Samuel chapter 15, King Saul fails to follow orders to kill Agag, King of the Amelekites – and that failure is the straw that takes Saul down. Jews are forbidden to bow to any descendent of Agag. So there is a good historical reason for Mordecai the Benjamite not to bow the Haman the Agagite.

When Haman saw that Mordecai refused to kneel and bow to him he was filled with rage. And rather than just punish Mordecai, Haman resolved to “do away with the Jews, Mordecai’s people, throughout the Kingdom of Ahasuerus.” (a bit of an over-reaction, but in keeping with the disproportion implicit in the whole story) Haman picks the time for the genocide by casting a lot , which landed on the twelfth month of the year. Then Haman goes to King Ahasuerus (AFTER picking the date for the massacre), and asks for permission to proceed. He says to the King: “There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from yours and who do not obey you. And so it is not in Your Majesty’s interest to tolerate them. I suggest you draw up an edict for their destruction….” Haman is , of course, talking about the Jews. And Haman offers to pay a….bribe to the King, of an amount that scholars say is equal to 2/3 of the entire Persian GNP at the time (another overstated, outrageously extravagant detail). But the king seemingly refuses the bribe and in fact gives Haman both his consent and his ring and says to Haman: “The money and people are yours to do with as you see fit.”

So orders were issued and instructions were sent out by courier to every province ordering each province to [do away with] “destroy, massacre, and exterminate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month…and to plunder their possessions…..The King and Haman sat down to feast, but the city was dumbfounded.”

Chapter 4

“When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went through the city, crying out loudly and bitterly, until he came in front of the palace gate.” And throughout the kingdom there was much mourning among the Jews, when they heard of the decree. And they fated and wept and wailed.

When Queen Esther heard of the decree, she was greatly agitated. (Remember, she is a Jew) And she sent one of her eunuch servants to go to Mordecai, to get him to take off his sackcloth and to see what the problem was. And Mordecai told Esther’s servant everything that had happened. About Haman’s bribe to the king, and he gave the eunuch the written edict dooming the entire population of Jews. Mordecai asked the [servant] eunuch to return to Esther and inform her of the decree so that she might appeal to the king and stop it. And the servant did as Mordecai instructed.

But Esther replied to Mordecai that she could not go before the king to ask for anything. No one was allowed to enter the King’s presence in the inner court without having first been summoned by the king himself. The penalty for violation of this law was death! And Esther had not been summoned. Mordecai responded to Esther: You are a Jew. Do not think that you will be spared just because you live in the palace. On the contrary, if you do not speak up, help and deliverance will come to the Jews from somewhere else, and you will perish for your cowardess. “Who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis,” said Mordecai to Esther. (What does this teach us about our own discernment?)

And Esther heard her cousin, Mordecai. She replied to him: Go assemble all the Jews who live in the city and have them fast on my behalf for three days. My maidens and I will observe the same fast. Then I will go to the King, even though it is against the law, “and if I am to perish, I shall perish!”

Chapter 5

“On the third day, Esther put on royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace….As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor. “ He extended his golden scepter to her. “What troubles you Queen Esther?” the king asked her. “And what is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be granted you.” Esther asked that the king and Haman come to a feast that she had prepared. And her request was granted. At the feast, the king asked Esther again: “What is your wish? It shall be granted you.” And Esther replied that her wish was that tomorrow the king and Haman would come to another banquet that she would prepare for them.

On the way out of the palace that day, Haman saw Mordecai who again refused to bow to the arrogant Agagite. And Haman was again incensed. But he controlled himself and continued on his way home. When he got there, he sent for his friends and his wife and bragged incessantly about his promotion and his wealth and power and what’s more, he said, the Queen [will give] gave a banquet for me and the king alone. And tomorrow she will give another one! But still, complained Haman, I am distressed that Mordecai continues to refuse to bow to me! And Haman’s wife and friends said to him that he should ask the king to erect a gallows to hang Mordecai for his disrespect. Haman liked that idea and in the morning he ordered the gallows to be built.

Chapter 6

That night the king could not sleep. And in his restlessness, he ordered that his book of records be read to him. And the section that the courtiers read happened to contain the account of Mordecai’s loyalty to the king, when he had overheard and reported the eunuch’s plot to kill the king. And the king the king thought, how did I repay Mordecai for his loyalty? What honor or advancement did he get? And the king’s servants replied that nothing had been done to reward Mordecai.

At just that moment, Haman approached the court and was invited by the king to enter. The king asked Haman, “What should be done for a man whom the king desires to honor? “ And Haman, in his unbridled arrogance, thought the king must be speaking of him, for who else would the king wish to honor. And so Haman answered the king: well, the man that the king desires to honor should be given royal clothing and a royal horse and a royal crown and paraded around the city so that everyone can see that he is honored by the king. “Quick then!” said the king. “Get the garb and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew….” And Haman obeyed the king. Mordecai was adorned with royal garb and paraded around the city on a royal horse as the king had commanded. Then Haman hurried home, his head “covered in mourning” and told his wife and his friends all that had happened that day.

The next day Haman joined the king at Esther’s banquet. And again the king asked Queen Esther, “What is your wish? It shall be granted to you.” And Esther replied, “If your Majesty will do me the favor, let me life be granted me as my wish, and my people as my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, massacred, and exterminated. Had we only been sold into slavery, I would have kept silent….” (Esther is no longer the king’s possession, now she is part of a much larger entity, a people.. And, an interesting not that in Hebrew, the root words for destruction and enslavement, are almost identical. Thus Esther’s reference to being sold into either destruction or slavery).

The king is shocked and demands to know who has dared to threaten his Queen. Esther replies, “the enemy is the evil Haman!” And, as the scripture says, “Haman cringed in terror before the king and the queen.” The king, in his fury, stormed out of the banquet and Haman proceeded to beg Queen Esther for his life. When the king returned, Haman was bowing on the ground and white as a ghost. And one of the eunuchs told the king that Haman had erected a gallows at his own home to kill Mordecai, the man whose loyalty saved the king. And the ordered that the gallows be used instead on Haman, himself. And it was done.

Chapter 8

The king gave all of Haman’s property to Queen Esther. Esther revealed that she and Mordecai were related, and the king offered his ring, which he had retrieved from Haman, to Mordecai. And Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman’s estate. Then Esther went to the king and asked him to revoke the edict against her people, the Jews. But the king lamented that he could not revoke any decree that was signed and sealed by the king. But, he would write another edict allowing the Jews to assemble and fight for their lives. And that the Jews were permitted to “destroy, massacre, and exterminate the armed forces…” The king’s new order was dispatched and communicated to all, near and far alike. And, “the Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honor.” They feasted and celebrated the day as a holiday. It is called Purim.

And many people now professed to be Jews for they had been given power.

Chapter 9

And so on the day appointed for the massacre, the opposite happened. The Jews overcame their enemies. They assembled and prepared to fight any who attacked them. But all showed deference to the Jews, for they feared Mordecai who was favored by the king. And the Jews “struck at their enemies with the sword, slaying and destroying…” In the city, the Jews killed 500 men including all ten of Haman’s sons.

After these things, the king again asked Queen Esther, “What now is your request? It shall be granted.” Esther asked that Jews be permitted to continue to slay their enemies throughout the kingdom. And so it was granted. And [All in all over] 75,000 enemies of the Jews were killed. And on the 14^th day of the month, the Jews rested and celebrated. And Mordecai recorded these events and requested that the 14^th and 15^th days of the month of Adar be celebrated every year as a day of deliverance when the Jews were transformed from mourning and grief to festive joy. The holiday would be one of feasting and merriment and gifts would be given to one another and the poor as a reminder of unknown gifts already on their way. The holiday would be called Purim, after pur, or the lot that Haman cast to schedule the extermination. From that time on, the Jews obligated themselves to observe this holiday.

And King Ahasuerus sent out an edict of “equity and honesty” to his entire kingdom, at Esther’s request. God save the queen!

With which character in this story do you most identify? Why?

What parts of this story resonate with our Lenten theme of Praying Through the Wilderness?

In Heaven It Is Always Autumn

by Elizabeth Spires

"In Heaven It Is Always Autumn"

John Donne

In heaven it is always autumn.

The leaves are always near

to falling there but never fall, and pairs of souls out walking

heaven's paths no longer feel the weight of years upon them.

Safe in heaven's calm, they take each other's arm,

the light shining through them, all joy and terror gone.

But we are far from heaven here,

in a garden ragged and unkept

as Eden would be with the walls knocked down,

the paths littered

with the unswept leaves of many years,

bright keepsakes for children of the Fall.

The light is gold, the sun pulling

the long shadow soul out of each thing, disclosing an outcome.

The last roses of the year nod their frail heads,

like listeners listening to all that's said, to ask,
What brought us here? What seed? What rain? What light?

What forced us upward through dark earth? What made us bloom?

What wind shall take us soon, sweeping the garden bare?

Their voiceless voices hang there, as ours might,

if we were roses, too.

Their beds are blanketed with leaves,

tended by an absent gardener whose life is elsewhere.

It is the last of many last days. Is it enough?

To rest in this moment? To turn our faces to the sun?

To watch the lineaments of a world passing?

To feel the metal of a black iron chair, cool and eternal,

press against our skin? To apprehend a chill as clouds

pass overhead, turning us to shivering shade and shadow?

And then to be restored, small miracle, the sun

shining brightly as before?

We go on, you leading the way, a figure

leaning on a cane that leaves its mark on the earth.

My friend, you have led me farther than I have ever been.

To a garden in autumn. To a heaven of impermanence

where the final falling off is slow, a slow and radiant happening.

The light is gold.

And while we're here, I think it must be heaven.

"In Heaven It Is Always Autumn" by Elizabeth Spires, from Now the Green Blade Rises. © W.W. Norton, 2002.

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With which character in this story do you most identify? Why?

What parts of this story resonate with our Lenten theme of Praying Through the Wilderness?

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In Heaven It Is Always Autumn