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 14th
day of the month, the Jews rested and celebrated. And Mordecai recorded these
events and requested that the 14th and 15th 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!
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