On the holiday of Purim it is traditional to read the Megliah Esther. Therefore I have reflected on it in essay.
Esther is lavish and decorous in its language. The characters are established in clear bold strokes. It is not hard to tell the good guys from the bad. This is one reason kids love it. As literature I think it is an amazing work; as liturgy it is a complete failure. Esther's heroics for example are hollow to me because she seems to have no spiritual life.
The text is odd in that it doesn't mention G*d. I tend to compensate for this by thinking of Mordecai as representing him, and Esther as representing the people of Israel. This however is not what a Jew should be doing. The G*d of all does not wear masks.
Actually the first time I read it critically, I had some contempt thinking of Esther as (Ashtoreth) and Mordecai as (Modred) Two Babylonian deities. However, I judged this finally not as corruption but camouflage. It is deeply concerning however because there is a very great inertia to legends they
tend to absorb smaller ones into them. This can be a fertile thing for art. Fertility however is a gift from G*d and not something to be worshiped.Fertility breeds worthy vessels, holiness is not breed. There is something of a 'horse' story in my reading of Esther. Something of two lines being brought together,
the each elevating the other.
The mercy of G*d and the excellence of Esther maybe tied to the blessing G*d gave the Avot but the power which saves them does not free them as King Cyrus does. Cyrus interestingly was a mede and the medes are under lords of the Persians (Iranians, King Ahasuerus' people). They even are mentioned as being at his table in the first verses.
Certainly a miracle which saved the people is worthy of a history. However, where is the praise for that miracle in this text? The book is very oriental in style full of effusive language and gaudy adjectives. Yes it recalls the crazy events of Abraham and Isaac offering their wives to Pharaoh but where is the spiritual gain? Again it only works as allegory. Allegory is part of Torah for example the Avot represent different kinds of wisdom and response to G*d. However, it is divorced in the book of Esther from the source of light and honor. Esther is a story of base human drives and opulence. It does not speak to me because it doesn't seem concerned with H'shem.
The only mitigation I can think is that it teaches (Like the haftorah associations) that in some circumstances the light must be hidden to preserve the light. The story treats of a time between the temples. A time of loss I can't imagine. Therefore, I will pursue the text without prejudice in fulfillment of Tradition. I must confess however to bitterness in my life at the moment which makes me quite critical. I am trying like my life depends on it to change. I want to judge all by their finest points. Perhaps this exercise in exegesis will help me. G*d willing I will find peace.
Here are my thoughts.
C1.
King Ahasuerus who rules "from India even unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces" has a feast in his capital city of Shushan for “his princes
and his servants; the army of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces".
He calls for Queen Vashti to join them and she refuses. This infuriates and embarrasses the king in front of his 'court.' The King with great chauvinism and vanity then decrees that "Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus, and that the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she."
C2.
So it was decreed that King Ahasuerus' officers in all the provinces would "gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the castle, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king's chamberlain."
More importantly we meet Hadassah (Esther) and Mordecai. Moredecai is given a notably long linage of 4 generations he is "Mordecai Ben Jair Ben Shme Ben Kish a Benjamite." Mordecai is called "A certain Jew in the Shushan" which means he is at the court. He is also said to have been one of the "captives that had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah" Jeconiah was carried away by Nebuchadnezzar when the first Holy Temple fell. (Also see Book of Daniel and Lamentations.)
This in itself is suspicious, not all the population went with Jeconiah. At first Nebuchadnezzar only took Jeconiah and the nobles. (The rest of the kingdom was ruled for a short time by his governor Gedilah. The fast of Gedilah reminds us that it was the assassination of Gedilah by jews seeking to restore their rule which lead to the complete Babylonian captivity. However, this could have been a false flag thing. In other words it could have been a pretext of Nebuchadnezzar.
But I am straying into conjecture. On a hunch though I dug a little and found some confirmation that Moredecai might have had royal blood. I was intrigued by the phrase "Esther His (Mordecai's) Uncle's Daughter. Looking into it I found some amazing things. The most interesting is that in the Midrash Mordecai tells Esther not to let King Ahasuerus or anyone know she is descended of King Saul! (See Esther 2:20)
I don't wish to focus on Mordecai too much but would say that the text ends with his name not Esther’s.
2:17 relates "And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti."
Chapter 2 (and remember chapters are not Jewish inventions) ends with a few verses relating that Mordecai and Esther also saved the Kings life from an attempt to assassinate him by two of his chamberlains "Bigthan and Teresh."
This statement maybe factual but it serves as a device. If Esther and Mordecai saved the King they must 'care' for him. It could be that they wish to preserve the gain of her being queen but it certainly represents no contempt for her being forced into the virgin contest. (haha.) It also would convey something of 'debt' on the ledger which the King of course will repay at the end of the story. That almost makes it seem cheesy but it signifies that the relationship between Esther and Ahasuerus was not simply based on her beauty. I will leave it at that.
C3.
It is about five years later. Enter the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, an arch anti-Semite. (Quickly I checked the term Agagite on Wikipedia, it says that it maybe the Persian town of Agag but that the Midrash states this relates to King Agag of the Amalekites. Amalek being of course being also an arch anti-Semite. (For Amalek Ben Eliphaz Ben Esau see (Gen. 36:12; 1 Chr. 1:36) That makes sense because we are supposed to blot out the name of Amalek and at Purim celebration we literally make noise over the name of the Agagite which is best known as Haman. Henceforth I will call him the Agagite which is my own eccentricity and derived only from my own feelings.
In an episode that reminds me of the Book of Daniel (again contemporaneous). Mordecai refuses to bow before the Agagite, even in defiance of King Ahasuerus who has "Set him (The Agagite) above all the princes" (3:1) Yet, the Agagite doesn't just want to revenge himself on Mordecai but on all the Jews in Persia. He argues they keep their own law. (May they always.)
King Ahasuerus sells all Jews gives to the Agagite "to do with them as it seemeth good to thee."
A genocidal slaughter begins throughout the vast kingdom of Ahasuerus.
C4.
Mordecai goes to Esther and entreats her as a Jew that they must try to end the slaughter. She declares "'Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I also and my maidens will fast in like manner; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish" (4:16). This is the source of the Fast of Esther which is still observed.
C5.
Esther goes before Ahasuerus who before she even speaks offers "What wilt thou, Queen Esther? for whatever thy request, even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be given thee." (5:3) She asks the Agagite attend a banquet she will provide. Again Ahasuerus offers "Whatever thy petition, it shall be granted thee; and whatever thy request, even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be performed." (5:6)
The stage is set almost as if it were a chemical figure that must be balanced. The tension is palpable. Life and death are at stake.
The Agagite considers this banquet another honor for himself but he is still full of hatred, he says "All this availed me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." (And still not bowing before him.) The Agagite orders a gallows to be built and resolves to have Mordecai hung at his banquet. This is the great lesson. How can any of us come to such a state as the villain? Only by thinking not of G*d can we become so proud.
C6.
Chapter six begins with a farce worthy of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The King just happens to be reminded of Mordecai having saved him from the plot of Bigthana and Teresh. He resolves to honor him at the same banquet as the Agagite. The Agagite agrees before he knows the man to be honored is Mordecai. The Agagite complies with the King and honors Moredecai but his hatred is only increased. (Chazal teaches that to humiliate a person is like to murder.)
C7
"So the King and (Agagite) came to banquet with Esther the Queen." (7:1) This sequence is extremely sparse. Esther says "we are sold, I and my people to be destroyed and slain." (7:4). The King exits to the garden apparently deliberating, then he returns and the Agagite is "hung on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai." (7:10).
C8.
King Ahasuerus sets Esther over the house of the Agagite (and all the Jews.) She in turn sets Mordecai over them. Esther then pleads that the King also reverse the work of the Agagite and rescind the orders to destroy the Jews. It is done.
C9.
This chapter describes retribution by the Jews and the death of the ten sons of the Agagite. It also contains the decree that "they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly," (9:21)
C10
In a few verses praises Mordecai. Would that the praise was given to G*d to whom it is due.
So I will add them…
Praise the L*rd our G*d who preserves the righteous, who is their refuge.
Praise the L*rd, the Holy King, there is no other.
Amen.
