The Book of Esther
A Final Look at Identity

Identities are complex
and multiple and grow
out of a history of
changing responses to
economic, political, and
cultural forces, almost
always in opposition to
other identities.
Kwame Anthony Appiah

Esther is a post-exilic text


Family and clan identifiers
are not as strong when
living in exile
No more country to give
you a sense of place –
“Israelite,” “Judahite”

The use of the term “Jew”
starts; what does it mean?

What does it mean to live
as a minority?
Background Information

Set in the Persian Period

“Tall tale”



Read at the festival of
Purim (“Lots”); celebrates
the deliverance of the
Jews from a pogrom
No mention of God


Characters are exaggerated
archetypes or stock figures
Many extreme details (a
gallows 50 ft high)
“Good” versus “evil” and
the triumph of good is a
key theme
Three Interlocking Stories
Ahaseurus and Vashti
1:1-2:4
Esther and Mordecai
2:5-23
Haman
3:1-15
The Party




King Ahasuerus throws a 7-day long
party (1:5)
‘Drinks were served in golden goblets,
goblets of different kinds, and the
royal wine was lavished according to
the bounty of the king’ (1:7)


Vashti, the queen, was entertaining
the women (1:9)
“On the 7th day, when the king was
merry with wine, he commanded….the
7 eunuchs who attended him to bring
Queen Vashti before the king wearing
the royal crown, in order to show the
peoples and the officials her beauty;
for she was fair to behold.” (1:10-11)

Vashti refuses and angers the king (v.
12)
The men discuss and decide “this deed
of the queen will be made known to all
women, causing them to look with
contempt upon their husbands” (v.17)
and so they issue a decree to put
Vashti out as queen and “declaring
that every man should be master in his
own house.” (v. 22)
To replace her, there is a seeking out
of young virgins to find the next queen
(2:1-4)
Esther and Mordecai



Mordecai identified as a Jew (2:5)
and from a family exiled when
Jerusalem fell (2:6)
Esther or Hadassah is his cousin
and is ‘fair and beautiful’ (2:7)
Esther gets in place (2:8-18)




Joins the competition of virgins
Earns the favor of the eunuch
Keeps her Jewish identity secret
Wins the favor of the king and
becomes the new queen

Mordecai hears of a plot to kill the
king (2:21)

Sends word via Esther (v.22)

The conspirators are caught,
hanged, and Mordecai’s actions
recorded (v.23)
Haman



The top of all of the
king’s officials (3:1)
Mordecai alone will not
bow down to him (3:2)
Haman discovers
Mordecai was a Jew and
plots to destroy the whole
people to get Mordecai
(3:5-6)

Casting lots sets the date
of the Jew’s destruction
Esther Must Act

Mordecai knows of the plot

Esther says she cannot do much

“Do not think in the king’s palace
you will escape any more than all
the other Jews. For if you keep
silence at such a time as this,
relief and deliverance will rise for
the Jews from another quarter,
but you and your father’s family
will perish. Who knows? Perhaps
you have come to royal dignity for
such a time as this.” (4:13-14)
Esther Before Ahasuerus
Claude Vignon
1624
Esther Before Ahasuerus
Artemisia Gentileschi
1628-35
Esther’s Plans


Invites the king and
Haman to a banquet
(5:3)
Gets them drinking
and invites them to a
second banquet (5:5,
8)
The Banquet of Esther and Ahasuerus
Jan Victors 1640s
Haman and Mordecai



Haman is still bugged by Mordecai
and his wife and friends suggest
hanging him from a gallows 50 ft
high
The king cannot sleep and in
reading the royal annals comes
upon Mordecai’s saving him
No reward was given and so he
makes Haman reward him

“For the man whom the king
wishes to honor, let royal robes be
brought, which the king has worn,
and a horse that the king has
ridden, with a royal crown on its
head. Let the robes and the horse
be handed over to one of the
king’s most noble officials; let him
robe the man whom the king
wishes to honor, and let him
conduct the man on horseback
through the open square of the
city, proclaiming before him: ‘This
shall it be done for the man whom
the king wishes to honor.’” (6:7b9)
The Triumph of Mordecai
Pieter Pietersz Lastman
1624
Esther and Haman Before Ahasuerus
Jan Victors
1638-1640
Esther Pleads the Cause



Reveals herself as one of
the Jews (7:3-4)
Haman gets the blame
(7:6)
Haman’s seeking mercy
from Esther is confused
with assault (7:7-8)
Haman Begging Esther for Mercy
Rembrandt 1655
Haman Hung on His Gallows
Esther Saves the Jews



Mordecai takes Haman’s
place (8:2)

Esther allowed to write a
new edict (8:8)
Jews allowed to defend
themselves (8:11-12)

The Jews defeat their
enemies (9:5); Haman’s
10 sons put to death
(9:14); 75,000 enemies
outside of the city killed
(9:18)
Jews have a celebratory
feast (9:18-19) and then
Purim is set
The End of the Tale
10:3 For Mordecai the Jew was next in
rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was
powerful among the Jews and popular
with his many kindred, for he sought the
good of his people and interceded for the
welfare of all his descendants.