ESTHER: Purim

Students of the Bible are often familiar with the story of Esther. We all seem to know the story of the underdog queen who was chosen to be the tool used by the hand of God for a perfect moment in the history of God’s people.

For the sake of a quick review, the story of Esther comes to us as the king of Persia, Xerxes (or Artaxerxes, depending on your translation and source), has deposed his current wife and queen, Vashti, after she refuses to “appear” (i.e., striptease) before the men as they gather for a banquet to celebrate the greatest of the Persian empire. The men, who are worried what Vashti’s rebellion might signal to all the women of the empire if she is not made an example of, said she should be deposed. After Vashti’s banishment, a beauty competition is put together. This contest — which appears to be a sick combination of American Idol, the Bachelor, and the Hunger Games — ends as a young Jewish woman named Hadassah/Esther is chosen to succeed Vashti as queen.

We are introduced to Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, a righteous Jew who becomes a main character in a subplot to the story of Esther. Mordecai, who has previously uncovered a plot to assassinate the king, is also determined not to bow his knee to the character of Haman, a right-hand man to the king who seems addicted to the praise of the empire’s subjects. After Mordecai’s refusal to honor Haman, Haman’s rage develops into a full-blown plan to destroy the Jewish people.

Mordecai, having learned of the plot to destroy his people, seeks to persuade Esther to put her life on the line in crafting a petition to the king to save the life of his queen. Mordecai succeeds, calling Esther to consider that she was put in her royal position “for such a time as this.” She requests an audience and banquet with the king at which she uncovers the plot of Haman. The king orders that Haman be executed, makes an edict that the Jewish people may defend themselves, and, after their triumph, they usher in the annual celebration of Purim.

What most of us never catch is the massive “story behind the story” of Esther.

Let’s look at the historical setting of the story of Esther. Most of us have always heard and considered the story of Esther in a sort of reader’s vacuum. Honestly, while I thought I knew some of these things vaguely in the back of my mind, it wasn’t until far too recently that I realized how significant they were in this piece of biblical literature. When I was trained in biblical history, I was taught about the remnant who returned upon the decree of Cyrus. The impression given to me was that the Israelites all cheered, threw a party, and started coming home in droves. In fact, this is not at all what happened. A very small percentage of people came home from Persia initially. Even centuries later, scholars estimate that only 250,000 people had returned from Babylon to rebuild the land of Israel. Many people stayed in Persia. They did this, certainly, for a few reasons:

1) It’s incredibly hard to rebuild. To return home and “start from scratch” is going to take a dedicated group of people. The project is formidable and not for the faint of heart. These people will need to be tenacious, radical, and a little crazy in order to pack up everything and move their families home.

2) Persia appeared to be — at least at first — a step in the right direction. Persia was not like Babylon. It would be hard to pack up and move home in the middle of a culture shift that is making the world around you “better.”

3) People didn’t stay just because of ease or their laziness. People also stayed because they felt like God was doing something IN PERSIA. This is a conclusion that I would argue is true — and backed up by more than one historic prophet. The book of Esther takes place in Persia. It is the story of the people who remained in Persia for a whole host of reasons. Was it because they were lazy compromisers? Was it because they were taking the mission of God seriously and blessing “all the nations” around them? Was it a little of both?

Now let’s explore the cultural setting of the story of Esther. Most readers will be unaware of the cultural setting for the entire story of Esther. The English nicely and quaintly translates away the real source of this “beauty contest.” When the Text tells us that these girls would be brought to the king’s harem for a year’s worth of “beauty treatments,” what they are not told in the English is that these beauty treatments include a year’s worth of training in the art of lovemaking. When they get to spend their “one night with the king,” they are not going on a dinner date; they are being given one shot to impress the king with their sexual prowess. If he is impressed with her “abilities,” he may move her on to the next round, or he might choose her to be his new wife. Otherwise, she will be sent home.

Esther is chosen to be Xerxes’ new wife after she wins his approval. Really? And just how does this Jewish girl manage to do that? You see, we are told that she is keeping her Jewish identity a secret. Her Babylonian name (Esther) is actually the name of the Babylonian goddess of love and sexual fertility. What kind of a girl is this Esther?

This brings us to the rampant debate that exists in Jewish thought surrounding the book of Esther.

Esther could be a story of a girl who came to her position of influence by some morally questionable means. She may, in fact, be a girl riddled with a horrible past and tremendous compromise. If so, the story of Esther becomes an anthem for anyone who’s ever made some serious mistakes or has a history littered with horrible decisions. If this story happens to be the one of biblical reference, then we have to realize that Esther’s horrible decisions and marred past did not keep her — for single moment — from God’s future. For all of those people who seem certain that God could never use them, the story of Esther becomes God’s retort: “I do not care about your yesterday; I care about your today. I’m not interested in what you’ve done; I’m interested in whether or not you are willing to partner with me to put the world back together NOW.”

However, Esther could just as easily be a story about a girl who remains resolutely steadfast in her commitment to walk God’s path well. There are many hints in the Text that would lead us to believe Esther actually never committed a single sin, but instead, committed herself to righteousness and being a woman of the Text. There is a stunning tradition in the Babylonian Talmud (yes, the Babylonian Talmud; consider the implications of that) which says Mordecai trained her in the ways of the Text and she was chosen as queen precisely because she did NOT impress Xerxes with games of lovemaking. The Textual clues for this in the oral tradition are astounding.

* I would recommend finding Rabbi David Fohrman’s teaching on “The Queen You Thought You Knew.” He has a book, a video, a holiday series, and a parsha teaching, any of which would tap into some of the best teaching I’ve ever seen on the book of Esther.

If this second story ends up being the biblical reference, then the story becomes an inspiring teaching about what it means to walk the path of God — even in the midst of empire. The need for generation after generation to remain faithful is tantamount as we consider the story of Esther. Somewhere there was a faithful Jew who remained in Persia and followed God and studied their Text and walked the path, day after day after day. They passed this onto their children who walked the path and studied their Text, day after day. None of these saw the fruits of their labor.

But that generation passed it onto to their children — one of them named Mordecai. And Mordecai passed it on to a niece who would end up being in just the right place at just the right time to save the Jewish people and change the course of Jewish history.

All of this happened because of faithfulness in the midst of Empire.

These are stories that invite you and I into them. We are being asked to realize that we are not disqualified for partnership in God’s great Kingdom. We are being invited to let go of the yesterday we believe defines us and allow God to write a new tomorrow. We are being invited to see that the fruits of our faithfulness — no matter where we live or what’s going on in the world around us — may not be realized in this life, but it is critical that we walk faithfully and pass the torch of God’s calling onto our children. We don’t know when God might knock on their door “for such a time as this.”