Esther
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Haddassah more commonly known as Esther (אֶסְתֵּר, Standard Hebrew Ester, Tiberian Hebrew ʾEstēr) was a woman in the Hebrew Bible, the queen of Ahasuerus (commonly identified with Xerxes I or Artaxerxes I), and heroine of the Biblical Book of Esther which is named after her.
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The name
According to the Book of Esther she was a Jewish woman originally named Hadassah. When she entered the royal harem she received the name Esther by which she was hence forth known. Hadassah means "myrtle" in Hebrew and the name Esther is most likely related to the Median word for myrtle, astra , the Kurdish words Est�re and Ist�r,the Persian word setareh meaning star � the myrtle blossom resembles a twinkling star.
Esther can also be understood to mean "hidden" in Hebrew, and her name is interpreted thus in Midrash, where it is told that Esther hid her nationality and lineage as Mordecai had advised. In addition God's workings are hidden in the events of the Book of Esther even though he is never mentioned explicitly. Therefore, in Hebrew, "The Book of Esther" can be understood as "The Book of Hiddenness," representing God's hiddenness in the story.
The Targum provides another Midrashic explanation claiming that she was as beautiful as the Evening Star, which is astara in Greek. Critics of the historicity of the Book of Esther attempt to derive the name from Ishtar, the pagan goddess associated with the Evening Star, although the usual Hebrew rendition of the latter name is the phonetically unrelated Ashtoreth. The names may nevertheless be coincidentally related, as the Semitic name Ishtar may share a common origin with Indo-European words for star.
The story
Over two thousand years ago, the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish people were driven out of Israel and were forced to live in Babylon.
Fifty years later, Babylonia was defeated by Persia. Xerxes was the second Persian king. He ruled over the largest and strongest kingdom in the world.
Xerxes chose the city of Shushan as his new capital. He had a feast to celebrate, lasting for one hundred and eighty days, for all the important people in the kingdom. He had a second feast, lasting seven days, and everyone in the city was invited, including the Jews.
Mordechai, the leader of the Jews, warned his people not to go to the feast, but they were afraid to disobey the king. They ate and drank to their heart?s content. However, they were troubled by the of the gold and silver vessels from the Holy Temple being used in the celebrations.
Xerxes boasted that his queen, Vashti, was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. On the final day of festivities, he commanded her to come and dance for the crowd. Vashti, the proud granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar, refused to appear in front of them. In a fit of rage, Xerxes had her banished from the kingdom.
Xerxes told his men to search the kingdom for someone even more beautiful than Vashti. They went from house to house taking the young girls away to Shushan where they were kept until they were brought before the king.
Esther
In Shushan, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan, lived with her uncle Mordechai. When the king?s men came to her house, Mordechai told her to hide the fact that she was a Jew and told her to give them her Persian name: Esther.
Esther was beautiful and kind. She remained in the palace for a year before the king saw her. As soon as she was brought before him, he chose her as his new queen. Esther appointed seven maidservants; one for each weekday so she would know which day the Sabbath fell on. Her meals were cooked with kosher food. She kept her secret well and no one knew that she was a Jew. Everyday, her uncle Mordechai sat outside the palace gates to wait for news about her.
One day while he was waiting outside the palace, Mordechai heard two men plotting to kill the king. He warned Esther to tell her husband, and the two men were caught and killed. Although it was recorded in the Royal Book that Mordechai the Jew had saved the king, people soon forgot.
Haman
Xerxes appointed Haman, the richest man in the kingdom, as his new prime minister. All of the king?s subjects were ordered to bow to Haman. Everyone obeyed this, except Esther?s uncle, Mordechai. Mordechai did not have any objection to honouring and bowing to Haman, but Haman wore a large medallion, engraved with the picture of an idol, on his chest. Mordechai said that people would think he was bowing to the idol.
Haman was furious that Mordechai refused to bow to him. He complained to the king. He asked for permission to destroy a group of people but he didn?t tell the king that they were Jews.
Xerxes gave Haman his signet ring to seal the orders and decrees. Haman was anxious not to make any mistakes so he drew lots (Purim) to decide on the day. He sent out letters to each of the provinces in the kingdom telling people to kill the Jews and take their property on the 13th day of the month of Adar.
When Mordechai heard of the decree, he was very upset and went to Esther to ask her to go to the king and save the Jews. Esther was afraid because it was forbidden to come before the king without being invited.
Esther asked that the Jews in Shushan fast and pray for her for three days. When the three days of prayers and fasting were over, Esther went to the king and asked him to a banquet with Haman. However, when the king arrived and asked her what she would like, Esther invited him to a second banquet.
Haman felt very important because the queen invited him to a banquet, so he decided to kill Mordechai at the first opportunity without waiting for the 13th of Adar. He built a gallows in his own courtyard to hang Mordechai.
Mordechai?s Reward
The King could not sleep so he asked a servant to read him the book containing the historical records. The servant found out that in the records it said that Mordecai was never honoured for discovering the conspiracy.
Haman was called in to advise the King on how to honour Mordecai. Haman thought that the king was referring to him so he said, ?For the man whom the king wishes to honour, let them bring royal attire which the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden ? one bearing the royal insignia! Then let this clothing and this horse be given to one of the king?s noble officials. Let him then clothe the man whom the king wishes to honour, and let him lead him about through the plaza of the city on the horse, calling before him, ?So shall it be done to the man whom the king wishes to honour!?? The king told Haman to organise a horse and robes for Mordechai and to lead him around the city.
Esther?s Banquet
The king went to Esther?s banquet. At the banquet Esther accused Haman of plotting to kill Mordechai and the Jews. She tells the king that she herself is a Jew and begs him to spare her life and her people?s lives. The King went outside to think things over, while he was gone, Haman tried to beg Esther for forgiveness but when the king walks in he thought that Haman was attacking Esther. The King then had Haman hung on the gallows that were intended for Mordecai. Mordechai became the prime minister in Haman?s place.
Mordechai?s decree
According to Persian law, the King was not allowed to take back the order about the destruction of the Jewish people because it was stamped with the royal seal. Mordechai was given the royal signet ring to issue whatever new decrees he could think of to help save the Jews.
He issued a royal letter urging the Jews to organise themselves and defend themselves on the 13th of Adar.
On the 13th of Adar, Jews across the kingdom assembled and defended themselves. Thousands of their enemies were killed, including Haman's 10 evil sons who were hanged from a tree.
But in Shushan, the Jews continued to fight for an extra day. On the 15th of Adar the Jews of Shushan celebrated their victory.
The Jews celebrated their victory with feasts; this ritual is now known as Purim.
Conclusion
Esther was a woman of deep faith and patriotism. She risked her life to save her people from Haman?s decree by seeing the king without permission. She asked the Jews in Shushan to pray for her because she believed that God would look after her.
She was an obedient adopted daughter to her cousin Mordechai; she followed his orders even when she was afraid.
Esther appears in the Bible as a woman of deep piety, faith, courage, patriotism, and caution, combined with resolution; a dutiful daughter to her adopted father, docile and obedient to his counsels, and anxious to share the king's favour with him for the good of the Jewish people. That she was raised up as an instrument in the hand of God to avert the destruction of the Jewish people, and to afford them protection and forward their wealth and peace in their captivity, is manifest from the Scripture account.
Her name, Hadassah, means myrtle in Hebrew. Esther comes from the Hebrew word for "hidden", describing what lengths she had to take so that she would not be exposed.
The Jews established an annual feast, the feast of Purim, in memory of their wonderful deliverance. According to traditional Jewish dating this took place about fifty-two years after the Return.
For a discussion of the historicity of Esther, see Book of Esther.
Modern retelling
There is a fictional book by Rebecca Kohn called "The Gilded Chamber" that retells the story of Queen Ester.
A movie about Esther and Ahasuerus, entitled One Night with the King: The Call of Destiny, is rescheduled for a 2006 release.
In 2001, VeggieTales, a company that uses CGI vegetables to teach children lessons from the Bible in a comical way, released Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen, which retells the story of Esther.
See also
External links
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Esther" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
