Bar-Ilan University
Purim 5772/March 8-9, 2012
Parashat Hashavua Study Center
Lectures on the weekly Torah reading by the faculty of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. A
project of the Faculty of Jewish Studies, Paul and Helene Shulman Basic Jewish Studies Center, and the
Office of the Campus Rabbi. Published on the Internet under the sponsorship of Bar-Ilan University's
International Center for Jewish Identity. Prepared for Internet Publication by the Computer Center
Staff at Bar-Ilan University.
907
Yonah Bar-Maoz1
Joseph and Esther in the Scroll of Hester2
The Sages long since noted the surprising similarity, both in terms of style and content,
between the story of Joseph's rise to power in Egypt and Esther's rise to the throne in
Shushan, aside from the genealogical connection between them:
AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS SHE SPOKE TO JOSEPH DAY BY DAY (Gen. 39:10). R. Judan
said in the name of R. Benjamin b. Levi: The sons of Rachel underwent trials
of equal severity and attained to equal greatness. They underwent equal
trials: AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS SHE SPOKE TO JOSEPH DAY BY DAY – Now it came to
pass, when they spoke unto him day by day (Esth. 3:4); THAT HE HEARKENED NOT
UNTO HER – And he hearkened not unto them (Esth. 3:4). They attained to
equal greatness – And Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put
it upon Joseph's hand (Gen. 41:42), while it is written, And the king took off
his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai (Esth.
8:2).3
1
Ms. Bar-Maoz is a retired lecturer from the Department of Bible and part of the Ha-Keter Mikra'ot
Gedolot Project.
2
Hester = concealment. This is a suitable name for the Scroll of Esther, in which the name of G-d does
not appear. According to the Sages (Hullin 139b): How do we know Esther comes from the Torah?
Because it says, "Yet I will keep My countenance hidden [Heb. haster astir]" (Deut. 31:18).
3
According to Genesis Rabbah (Theodore-Albeck edition, ch. 87, s.v. va-yehi kedabberah). This theme
is discussed in several works, including G. H. Cohen, Iyyunim be-Hamesh ha-Megillot, Jerusalem 2006,
1
The chart below shows the full extent of the stylistic similarities:
Joseph
Esther
Gen. 39:10: And when she spoke to Joseph 3:4: When they spoke to him day after day
day after day, and he did not listen to her and he would not listen to them,
[request] to lie beside her, to be with her.
41:42: Pharaoh removed his signet ring from 8:2: The king slipped [and] removed his
ring, which he had taken back from Haman,
his hand, and gave it on Joseph's hand.
and gave it to Mordecai.
41:42: and he had him dressed in robes of 6:9: And let them dress the man whom the
fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. king desires to honor
41:43: He had him ride in the chariot of his 6:9: and have him ride on the horse
second-in-command
through the city square,
41:43: and they cried before him, "Abrek!" 6:9: and let them cry before him: This is
what is done for the man whom the king
Thus he placed him over all the land of Egypt.
desires to honor.
39:6:
Now Joseph was well built and 2:7: The maiden was shapely and beautiful
handsome.
39:4: Joseph found favor in his eyes.
5:2: As soon as the king saw Queen
Esther…she found favor in his eyes.
41:34: And let Pharaoh take steps to appoint 2:3: Let Your Majesty appoint officers in
officers over the land
every province of your realm
41:35: Gather all the food of these good years
that are coming, and let the grain be collected
under Pharaoh's authority as food in the cities
to be safeguarded.
2:3: Gather all the beautiful young virgins
at the fortress Shushan, in the harem
under the supervision of Hege…guardian of
the women.
41:37: The plan pleased Pharaoh
2:4: The proposal pleased the king
50:3: for such is the full period of embalming.
2:12: for such is the full period spent on
beautifying them
43:14: As for me, if I am to be bereaved, I 4:16: and if I am to perish, I shall perish!
shall be bereaved.
44:34: For how can I go back to my father 8:6: For how can I bear to see the disaster
unless the boy is with me? Lest I see the which will befall my people! And how can I
in the chapter, "Esther ha-Malkah be-`ikvot Yosef ha-Tzaddik," pp. 311-316.
bibliography on the Book of Esther in general may be found there.
2
An extensive
disaster that would befall my father!
bear to see the destruction of my kindred!
The similarities in content are quite clear from this table and do not need further
elucidation. However we would do well to consider the main difference between the two
narratives – the different mood characteristic of each. The story of Joseph in Egypt is
serious, at times even severe, whereas the Scroll of Esther is marked by "humor [which is]
persistent and pervasive. Not only does the work mock the buffoonish, irresponsible, and
absent-minded king; not only does it puncture the pompous prime minister engulfed in selfdelusion; not only is the text filled with hyperbole and gross exaggeration like a 180-day
banquet, 127 Persian satrapies, a full year's cosmetic treatment, and a gallows set 50 cubits
in the air; but the sly and witty touches recur repeatedly, often unexpectedly."4
If the mood is so different, what point is there for in the Scroll of Esther to make so many
allusions to the Joseph narrative? Why was this important to the author?
The mocking critique of the ruling authority in the Megillah was likely to lead to the
conclusion that anarchy is preferable, or that monarchy is like an evil disease that must be
avoided at any price. But that is not the case: the Joseph narrative provides an example of
responsible government putting its power to good use to care for the well-being of its
citizens, thus preventing terrible disaster. In the Joseph story even the totalitarian control of
the king, who acts without having to explain and account for his deeds, is presented in a
positive light. When the king finds the appropriate person, he can ignore the rigidity of
social stratification and unwarranted stigmas and for the good of the kingdom can raise a
gifted slave from the depths of the dungeon to the heights of government.
We imagine that the kingdom of heaven in some way resembles a human kingdom and that
if a king of flesh and blood can wisely take advantage of his might, then all the more so the
King of Kings, who acts with foresight at all times. The numerous allusions to the Joseph
narrative help us remember this truth even in what might seem the wildest moments in the
Scroll of Esther.
Aside from this, the parallel to the Joseph narrative provides the explicit statement that
underlying ever historical event is the guiding hand of the One, "by Him actions are
measured" (I Sam. 2:3). This is stated unequivocally in the Joseph narrative, and since there
are so many parallels in content and style between the Joseph narrative and the Esther
story, there is no reason why such a central theme of one story should be absent from the
other, even though a stylistic parallel for it has not been found. Indeed, the parallel in ideas
exists, except that it appears obliquely, as one might expect from the nature of the narrative
in the Scroll of Esther, which does not explicitly mention G-d's intervention:5
4
Erich S. Gruen, Diaspora: Jews amidst Greeks and Romans, Cambridge, Harvard University Press,
2002, p. 144.
5
G. H. Cohen writes: "The absence of the name of G-d in particularly striking given the fact that the
Megillah describes Jewish society in Persia and its leaders as devout Jews" (p. 335). He cites the
3
Joseph
Esther
4:14: On the contrary, if
you keep silent in this crisis,
45:7: G-d has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival relief and deliverance will
on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary come to the Jews from
deliverance.
another quarter…6 who
knows, perhaps you have
45:8: So, it was not you who sent me here, but G-d
attained to royal position
45:9 G-d has made me lord of all Egypt.
for just such a crisis.
45:5: It was to save life that G-d sent me ahead of you.
50:19:20: G-d intended it for good, so as to bring about the
present result – the survival of many people.
It remains to be asked: why was the Megillah written as a satire instead of employing the
same serious sort of narrative used in the Joseph story?7
We suggest that a humorous approach was essential in this biblical narrative precisely
because it does not mention the name of G-d, even though it copes with the first attempt to
harm the Jews expressly because of their religious distinction.8 Such an attack on the Jews is
considered an attack on the G-d of Israel, as in the words of Asaf: "For Your enemies rage,
Your foes assert themselves. They plot craftily against Your people, take counsel against
Your treasured ones. They say, 'Let us wipe them out as a nation; Israel's name will be
mentioned no more.' Unanimous in their counsel they have made an alliance against You"
following as proof: Mordechai refuses to bow down, a position which Haman considers fully
understandable, "for he had explained to them that he was a Jew" (Esther 3:4); Mordechai intimates
to Esther that she was sent to perform a certain role by Divine providence; Esther fasted before taking
action and requested that all her people fast; the other nations recognize the unique strength of the
Jewish people: "If Mordechai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish stock, you will not
overcome him; you will fall before him to your ruin" (Esther 6:13); the people take note for all time of
the deliverance that was wrought through "the fasts with their lamentations."
6
Due to this similarity in content, a homily of the Sages rightly sees stylistically similar thematic
parallels between certain verses in the Book of Esther and elsewhere in the Bible, and uses these to
show the hand of G-d as directing all that is done in the Megillah: "On the contrary, if you keep silent
in this crisis" (Esther 4:14) – "It is a time of trouble for Jacob, but he shall be delivered from it" (Jer.
30:7), hence it says, "relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter" (Esther 4:14)
– for Scripture says: "But Israel has won through the Lord triumph everlasting" (Isa. 45:17; Midrash
Tehillim, Buber ed., Psalm 22.5).
7
Generally, the use of humor in similar circumstances can be explained in a number of ways: humor
is the weapon of the weak, whereby they can take on those stronger than them; or it can serve to
express a sense of strength despite being the underdog "The whimsicality that portrays rulers as
buffoons, Jews as flawed, and high state policy as comic travesty suggests confidence and selfpossession in both author and readership. Life in the Persian Empire (or its representation in a
subsequent diaspora) was comfortable enough to generate witty parody and healthy hilarity (Gruen,
Diaspora, p. 147-8); or it could be the sugar coating on the bitter pill of a horror story that ends well,
although only with great difficulty.
8
It is well known that Haman sought to harm the Jews precisely because of their religious
distinctiveness.
4
(Ps. 83:3-6). And elsewhere in Psalms: "kings of the earth take their stand, and regents
intrigue together against the Lord and against His anointed" (Ps. 2:2). If so, all is seen and
the outcome is known beforehand: "He who is enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord mocks
at them" (Ps. 2:4). The writer of the Megillah expressed this laughter in heaven through the
humorous mockery in the way the events of the Megillah are presented, especially the way
the figures plotting against G-d and His people are portrayed. Indeed, the use of humor in
the Megillah presents human hubris in its proper dimensions, as unfounded haughtiness.
Ultimately, the leaders with their over-inflated egos are brought low and the Lord's people
celebrate with great jubilance: "So may all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But may His friends
be as the sun rising in might!" (Judges 5:31).
Translated by Rachel Rowen
5