Esther

In this post we tell Esther’s story; we are in Persia: in the days of Ahasuerus, —(this Ahasuerus ruled over one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India)— in those days, when king Ahasuerus was on the throne in the city of Susa. In the third year of his reign, he made a feast for his friends, and the other nations, and for the nobles of the Persians and Medes, and the chief of the local governors». Queen Vashti disrespects the sovereign and his guests; in fact she disobeys the king’s order that asked her to show her beauty at the feast. Ahasuerus therefore decides to replace her. The beautiful Esther, Mordecai’s adoptive daughter, is chosen among the many young women who present to the king after one year of preparation. Mordecai was «a Jew dwelling in the city Susa, a great man, serving in the king’s palace [...]. Now he was of the captivity which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried captive from Jerusalem, with Jeconiah the king of Judea». «Now Esther had not revealed her kindred; for so Mordecai commanded her, to fear God, and perform his commandments, as when she was with him. Esther didn’t change her manner of life». Mordecai stands at the court because he foiled two chamberlains’ plot to kill Ahasuerus: «the king gave orders to make a note for a memorial in the royal records of the good offices of Mordecai, as a commendation». Mordecai, however, has a powerful enemy: Haman. The king, in fact, «exalted him and set his seat above all his friends. All in the palace bowed down to him, for so the king had given orders to do; but Mordecai didn’t bow down to him». Mordecai is an observant Jew and can bow down only before the Lord, as he will say in one of his prayers: «You know, Lord, that it is not in insolence, nor arrogance, nor love of glory, that I have done this, to refuse to bow down to the arrogant Haman. For I would gladly have kissed the soles of his feet for the safety of Israel. But I have done this that I might not set the glory of man above the glory of God. I will not worship anyone except you, my Lord». Haman is very angry, so «he made a decision by casting lots by day and month, to kill the race of Mordecai in one day. The lot fell on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar». With an excuse («There is a nation scattered among the nations in all your kingdom, and their laws differ from all the other nations. They disobey the king’s laws. It is not expedient for the king to tolerate them») he obtains the king’s consent. When Moradecai knows the fact, he asks for Esther’s help («Who knows if you have been made queen for this occasion?»); nobody except him knows that the queen has Hebrew origins.

Esther, after days of penitence and prayer, gets ready to use all her great beauty (do you remember Judith?). She has to go to the king without being called, risking her life for breaking the protocol.

 

 

«But God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness» and she succeeds. The king asks what Esther wants, but she postpones and invites the king and Haman to a feast she prepared for them the same day. Then she postpones again her request to a further banquet with the same people, planned for the next day. While Haman is going out of the first banquet, he sees Mordecai. He is furious and he decides to ask the king as soon as possible Mordecai’s hanging. He prepares for this «a fifty cubit tall gallows».

«The Lord removed sleep from the king that night; so he told his servant to bring in the books, the registers of daily events, to read to him. And he found the records written concerning Mordecai, how he had told the king about the king’s two chamberlains». Mordecai is still unrewarded for his precious service; ironically, it is Haman to determine the conditions of the reward, thinking that the king wants to honor him. It is the beginning of the Lord’s action, which will cause Haman’s fall and the Jews’ salvation. In fact, in her second banquet, Esther speaks to the king, reveals to him her Hebrew origins and finally exposes to him her request. «“If I have found favor in the sight of the king, let my life be granted as my petition, and my people as my request. For both I and my people are sold for destruction, pillage, and genocide. If both we and our children were sold for male and female slaves, I would not have bothered you, for this isn’t worthy of the king’s palace.” The king said, “Who has dared to do this thing?” Esther said, “The enemy is Haman, this wicked man!” Then Haman was troubled before the king and the queen. [...] And Bugathan, one of the chamberlains, said to the king, “Behold, Haman has also prepared a gallows for Mordecai, who spoke concerning the king, and a fifty cubit high gallows has been set up on Haman’s property.”

The king said, “Let him be hanged on it!” So Haman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was appeased». Those days become days of celebration: «the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar; for on these days the Jews obtained rest from their enemies; and in that month, which was Adar, in which a change was made for them, from mourning to joy, and from sorrow to a good day, to spend the whole of it in good days of feasting and gladness, sending portions to their friends and to the poor. And the Jews consented to this as Mordecai wrote to them, showing how Haman the son of Hammedatha the Macedonian fought against them, how he made a decree and cast lots to destroy them utterly; also how he went in to the king, telling him to hang Mordecai; but all the calamities he tried to bring upon the Jews came upon himself, and he was hanged, along with his children. Therefore these days were called Purim, because of the lots (for in their language they are called Purim)». The Hebrews still celebrate today the Purim feast, reading the Book of Esther during it. In the next post, we will read the Maccabees’ story.