If Esther had not been that beautiful: dealing with a hidden God in the Book of Esther - Hebrew

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Winter, 2001 by Sabine M.L. Van Den Eynde

Abstract

The Hebrew story of Esther seems to be a story without God. God does not intervene, is not present as a character in the book, is even never referred to (Fox: 235-47; Beal 1999: xix-xxii). Yet, the religious overtones are present throughout the book. The present article studies some of these religious hints, with special attention to the (reversal of the) power relationships.

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The story of Esther starts with a great celebration. The intent is clear: the power and wealth of the Persian king Ahasuerus should be celebrated for 180 days--six full months. Ahasuerus offers a banquet to all the inhabitants of his capital city, moreover, with drinks available according to everyone's desire. This feast thus reveals much about the king's character. According to Fox, he has "an obsession for power," which will lead to an attempt "to buy honor by ostentatious generosity" (172).

The decision that everything should happen as everyone desires, is the first of a series of events in which Ahasuerus does not exercise his power, but has others do as they please. For, as Fox demonstrates, the king never says no. Whoever knows how to manipulate him, be it his servants, Haman, Mordecai or Esther, the king will give him or her the power and responsibility to act (Fox: 173). Although the text never explicitly condemns whatever Ahasuerus does, there is, according to Fox, an implicit condemnation (176; cf. Klein: 154-55).

The inherent reasoning seems to be that foreign rule is like that: hardly worthy of contempt. But such a demonstration of power is not typical for foreign rulers only. King Hezekiah, for instance, shows the envoys of Babel his entire palace, his storehouses and his kingdom (2 Kings 20:12-21). Isaiah prophesises that the king of Babel will plunder everything he showed them. If the Jewish listeners pay attention to the description of Ahasuerus' wealth, they will no doubt remember all the goods stolen by the Babylonians and conquered by the Persian kings. Moreover, some of the Persian wealth stems from bribes (cf. Esth 3:9) and taxes (cf. Esth 10:1). Ahasuerus is showing off with the riches of others, a behavior in sharp contrast with the Bible's critical attitude toward wealth. Moses warns the people (Deut 8:11-14, 18):

   Take heed lest you forget the LORD your God ... lest, when you have eaten
   and are full, and have built goodly houses and live in them, and when your
   herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all
   that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget
   the LORD your God [RSV].

For it is God who gives the people the power to get wealth (v. 18). A similar critical attitude is present in some biblical passages concerning the king, texts probably written when the people already had a king who misbehaved and exploited the people. Samuel, for instance, warns the people that a king will demand that their sons and daughters work for him, that he will take their possessions to give them to his favorite servants, and that he will raise taxes (1 Sam 8:11-18). Deuteronomy 17 provides that a king not have too many horses nor too many women, and that he not gather silver and gold. On the contrary, the king should respect God and keep his commandments.

Another aspect of the biblical criticism of kings, is the idea that when all is said and done, God is king of his people. Psalm 145 praises the glorious splendor of God's kingdom, his power and mighty deeds. In 1 Chronicles 29:11, David ascribes to God the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty. God's kingdom protects the rights of the weak (Ps 146), and this is an example to be followed by the earthly kings (cf. Ps 72). Ahasuerus is the prototype of the worst kind of king: a heathen who gathers possessions and wastes them, for his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his majesty. He seeks to be a king of divine allure. The people are clearly under the power of a king with completely different values and behavior than that accepted and valued in their own tradition. This, however, also prompts a question: if God is truly king, will this kind of injustice persist?

Power and Contra-Power

The first step in thwarting Ahasuerus' lust for exposing power is taken by an unexpected figure. The celebration of Ahasuerus had to have a special climax: the appearance of the queen. Yet Vashti refuses to appear, and this refusal is the start of the story. The king is furious and calls his advisers. They exaggerate what Vashti did, maintaining that she has wronged not only the king, but also all the princes of the kingdom. Her act has been transformed from a personal fault to a national crisis (cf. Beal 1999: 13) and a threat to the existing social order (Beal 1995: 97; Fox: 21). All women will hear what happened, will follow her example and look down upon their husbands. Therefore, Vashti's royal power should be given to someone else, who is better than she. Literally: may the king give her royal power to her neighbor, who is better than she--the wording is very similar to that of 1 Samuel 15:28 (YHWH will take from you the royal power over Israel and give it to your neighbor, who is better than you). Just as David will be a better king than Saul, Esther will be a better queen than Vashti. The similarity implicitly suggests that God is involved in the replacement of the queen.