Esther

Jean-Daniel Macchi, Carmen Palmer, Walter Dietrich, David M. Carr, Adele Berlin, Erhard Blum, Irmtraud Fischer, Shimon Gesundheit, Walter Groß, Gary N. Knoppers, Bernard M. Levinson, Ed Noort, Helmut Utzschneider, Beate Ego

• Publisher: Kohlhammer Verlag
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9783170310285
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

The Book of Esther is one of the five Megillot. It tells the story of a Jewish girl in Persia, who becomes queen and saves her people from a genocide. The story of Esther forms the core of the Jewish festival of Purim. The commentary presents a literary analysis of the text, taking into account the inclusion and arrangement of different pericopes, and an analysis of the narration. Likewise, it will discuss the style, the syntax, and the vocabulary. The examination of the intellectual context of the book, biblical and extrabiblical textual traditions on which the book is based and with which it is in intertextual dialogue, leads to a discussion of the redactional process and the historical and social contexts in which the authors and redactors worked.

Chapter 1. The Fall of Queen Vashti

Introduction

The first chapter of the book provides the backdrop and sets the scene for the plot. It describes the luxurious world of the Persian court and the sumptuous banquets to honor King Ahasuerus. Now drunk at the close of a banquet, the king rashly invites his wife to be put on display. Everything falls apart when she refuses to come. The heavy hand of the Persian administration is galvanized into action. Specialists are called in to analyze the situation and suggest remedies. Memucan imagines a scenario in which all women revolt and suggests the promulgation of an edict dismissing Queen Vashti from her royal position.

The text is ironic. A king, apparently all-powerful, is incapable of making his wife appear before him. As for Memucan, he is drunk and proposes macho arguments and simplistic solutions. However, behind its rather humoristic appearance, this first chapter foreshadows and sets the stage for the intricacies that will soon emerge. The edict against the queen resembles the one that Haman will pronounce against the Jews in Chapter 3. The difficulties that Vashti faces in her matrimonial relationship resemble those that Esther will confront in Chapter 5, where she will, however, adopt an attitude opposite to Vashti’s.

As elsewhere in the book, Chapter 1 views the Persian imperial system, its size, its wealth, its banquets, and its administration, in a way reminiscent of classical Greek literature. In addition, the queen’s refusal can be explained by the traditional place of women at banquets, while the treatment of the king’s matrimonial difficulty calls to mind Herodotus’s account of an episode of the life of Cambyses.

The Banquets of the Persian King (1:1-9)

1 It was in the days of Ahasuerus, that Ahasuerus ruled over 127^a provinces from India to Cush. 2 In those days, when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the citadel^a of Susa, 3 in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet ^afor all his ministers and servants. The army^a of Persia and Media, the nobles and the ministers of the provinces were before him. 4 He exhibited the glorious wealth of his monarchy and the precious splendor of his majesty, ^afor many days^a, 180 days.

5 When these days^a came to an end, the king gave for the people who were in the citadel of Susa, both great and small, a banquet lasting seven^b days in the court of the garden of the king’s pavillion. 6 Lace, linen, and purple cloth were suspended by byssus and crimson cords to silver rings and alabaster columns. Couches of gold and silver were on pavement of jade, alabaster, ^amother-of-pearl, and jet^a. 7 Drinks were served in golden goblets, and in all sorts of goblets, and the wine of the kingdom was abundant ^aaccording to the king’s standard^a 8 and the drink^a was, according to the edict, without restraint, for the king had ordered all of his household officials to act according to each individual’s desires.

9 Queen Vashti^a also gave a banquet for the women in the royal house of King Ahasuerus.

Notes on Text and Translation

1aSyr. has here “120” probably by assimilation with MT from Dan 6:2.

2aהבירה in apposition to Susa designates the acropolis. LXX translates the Hebrew more generally with Σούσοις τῇ πόλει “the city of Susa.”

3a-aLXX generalizes. The banquet is given τοῖς φίλοις καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσιν “for his friends and for all the other nations.”

4a-aA gloss absent from AT and LXX.

5aLXX + τοῦ γάμου “of marriage.” This variant is either an exegetical addition or a change from an original τοῦ ποτου “of drink.”

bLXX corrects here to “six days,” perhaps to avoid having Susa’s Jewish inhabitants participate in festivities on the Sabbath.

6The versions present numerous variants due to the presence of rare terms and difficult Hebrew syntax. For the LXX, see Ken Chan, “An Alternative Translation of Esther 1.6-7 in the Septuagint,” Bible Translator 62 (2011), 165-171.

a-aLXX and AT end this verse with “roses circling around.” This translation depends upon an original ורדי סחרת (with an inversion of ר and ד in the first word). ורד signifies “rose” (in postbiblical Hebrew and Aramic) and סחר “to turn” (Aram.).

7a-aLit.: “like the king’s hand.” LXX (and AT) “which the king drank” understands the Hebrew expression as denoting a type of wine the king consumed.

8aThe MT opens with the hapax והשתיה “and the drink.” LXX and AT translate the first word of the verse with πότος “banquet,” a term which elsewhere translates משׁתה (Esth 1:5; 2:18; 5, 6, etc.). The original משׁתה had been a later correction to create a play on words with “Vashti.”

9aThe LXX spells the name of the queen Αστιν. The orthography Ουαστιν from AT and Josephus is closer to that of MT.

Synchronic Analysis

The book opens with the description of three royal banquets, letting the reader enter the luxurious world of the Persian imperial court. The setting is a far away oriental place characterized by excess, luxury, and foreign customs. The king rules over a territory that extends over the known world, and the banquets that showcase the glory of the king last for months, gathering together all the people in charge throughout the empire, and are given with impressive luxury, including much wine. As for women, they remain in the background.

This first section sets up the geographic, temporal, and sociocultural context of the narrative. This type of descriptive introduction is entirely uncommon in biblical Hebrew literature.¹ It instead calls to mind certain Hellenistic Jewish texts. The closest parallel is the book of Judith, which opens with a long description of Nebuchadnezzar’s architectural, military, and festival practices.

Verses 1-2 present the general context of the narrative – the reigning monarch, the expanse of his kingdom, as well as the location where he sits and thus where the plot will unfold. Then a series of three banquets is described: a banquet for the nobles lasting 180 days (vv. 3-4); a banquet for the people of Susa lasting seven days (vv. 5-8); and a banquet for women (v. 9).

The two principal banquets are presented in a similar fashion and work as a pair. As each scene opens, the narrative describes the beginning of the banquet, the guests, the location, and the duration (vv. 3 and 5), before any actions occur (vv. 4 and 6-8). As time and space become more focused, the descriptions become more and more concrete. At the first banquet, only the general principles of the banquet are in evidence, and the narrative’s purpose is to convey the royal glory in general, while at the second banquet, the focus shifts to the practical details of this glorification. The luxurious furniture is described at length (v. 6), before the interest turns to the wine (vv. 7-8) and the manner in which it is consumed. The insistence upon the abundance of wine is significant because it emphasizes the wealth of the king, but also because it points to the state of mind of the guests and what will follow.

The women’s banquet (v. 9), rather than serving as a third banquet, looks like an appendix to the men’s banquet. Its time and contents are not precise, implying simultaneity and similitude with the principal banquet. Only the type of guests and the location change. While the men are in the garden, the women are inside the palace.

Thus the context and the necessary ingredients for the narrative that follows are set, the king is glorified, the elites and the people are present in the luxury of power, all the men are drunk and behave as they please, while the women are separated from the men.

1:1 The king is generally identified as Xerxes I (486–465). The Hebrew “Ahasuerus” אחשׁורושׁ is a good transcription of the Persian name Ḫšajāršā (Akkadian Ḫiši ʾarši), which in Greek texts is rendered as Xerxes (Ξέρξης). The LXX identifies him as Artaxerxes, probably because of the similarity between the Hebrew אחשׁורושׁ and the Greek Ἀρταξέρξης.² The AT and the Vulgate transcribe the Hebrew name as Ἀσσυῆρος and Assuerus. Well known from Greek writings, Xerxes I is one of the greatest Persian rulers, under whose reign the empire reached its maximum extension westward. In any case, the king’s identification is not central to the interpretation of the book of Esther, which plays skillfully with representations of the Persian world, but does not d...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Imprint
• Editors’ Foreword
• Author’s Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. The Fall of Queen Vashti
• Chapter 2. Esther’s Accession and Royal Installation
• Chapter 3. Haman’s Plot
• Chapter 4. Mordecai Solicits Esther’s Help
• Chapter 5. Haman’s Honors
• Chapter 6. Mordecai’s Honors
• Chapter 7. The Death of Haman
• Chapters 8–10. Triumph, Massacre, and Festivities
• The Additions
• Bibliography
• Indexes
• Plan of volumes