On the third day, Queen Esther put on her royal robes and presented herself to King Xerxes, even though her husband had not requested her presence in over a month. Mordechais loyalty and faithfulness to the King were key elements in the unfolding of the events. The Jews were in the Babylonian exile. Mordecai then spoke these famous words, Do not think to yourself that in the kings palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your fathers house will perish. She understood why she had to suffer through her relationship with this irritable king. The grave of Mordecai and Esther still stands in Hamadan; and the Jews of Iran, to this day, are referred to as "the children of Esther.". Old Testament Stories: Queen Esther When she approached the king, he held out his scepter. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Esther-biblical-figure, McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia - Esther. His father was Kish, who descended from the House of Benjamin. Designation of the five scrolls of the Bible (Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther). Rabbah6:5; BTLit. Meir, Tamar. Josephus tells us that she was loved by the masses of the Jewish people (Jewish Antiquities 13:407). Oops! Another tradition has Mordecais wife nursing the infant (Midrash Tehilim, onPs. In the biblical book named after her, Esther is a young Jewish woman living in the Persian diaspora who finds favor with the king, becomes queen, and risks her life to save the Jewish people from destruction when the court official Haman persuades the king to authorize a pogrom against all the Jews of the empire. Seeking a new queen, the king appointed commissioners to bring all the beautiful young virgins from every province into his harem for a year of cosmetic treatments so that he might select a new bride. Esther remained passive and allowed the King to rape her repeatedly. She had two grown sons (Aristobulus and Hyrcanus II), but she decided not to step aside for them; perhaps she foresaw that the rivalry between the younger and older son would not end well. After she tested positive for . What did this queen do? Instead, Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, and the Jews were given permission to destroy their enemies. [11] According to the colophon to Greek Esther, a delegation of Jews from Jerusalem went to Egypt with the translation of the story of Megillat Esther and asked the Jews of Alexandria to begin celebrating the festival of Purim. Theodor-Albeck], MS. Vatican, para. In various sources the Rabbis relate to the question of the Book of Esthers acceptance as Scripture and to the establishment of the holiday ofPurim. In Megillat Esther, we encounter another heroine who maneuvers royal protocol to save her people. The story of the underdog, of the weaker winning against the stronger, is the quintessential biblical and Jewish theme, but it is not often that Israel is figuredliterarily or in realityas a woman and still praised as pious, divinely appointed, and beloved.[13]. Esth. This tradition results from the desire to equate Esthers age with that of Abraham when he left his native land forThe Land of IsraelErez Israel upon Gods command. It was only when Esther came that Ahasuerus removed the likeness of Vashti and replaced it with that of Esther (Esth. Given new belongings (Esther 2:9). Mordecai is mentioned inEsth. This meant the king was happy to see her and would not put her to death. Elizabeth reigned for almost forty-five years and was the last monarch of the Tudor Dynasty, having died childless. 31 December 1999. Rachel is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 29 when Jacob happens upon her as she is about to water her father's flock. The Feast of Purim was instituted to help the Jews remember their deliverance from Haman. Esther wanted to speak with Xerxes about Haman's hatred toward the Jews. Mordechai later adopted Esther as his daughter after her parents died. He had a war against Greece in 480-470BC, when he was 39-49. This last event was around the same time that Esther became Queen. Continue Learning about Religious Studies. Is the singer Avant and R Kelly brothers? cit.). 2:7states: Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter [literally: took herle-vat], which the midrash understands as: Mordecai took herle-bayit, that is, as a wife (BTMegillahloc. Through his actions, along with those of his cousin Esther, the Jews were saved from extermination. Queen Shelamzion Alexandra reigned as queen of Judea from 76 to 67 BCE. movie). He wished Queen Vashti to be brought to the feast so that he may flaunt her wonderful beauty. Even after she becomes queen because of the disobedience of Queen Vashti, Esther remains modest and down-to-earth. As early as 1215, Rabbi Menachem Ha-Hevroni wrote that while visiting the Galilee, he came across the tomb of Queen Esther, "who, during her lifetime, had instructed her son Cyrus to bring her there [for burial]". Esther illuminated Israel like the light of dawn, while this light itself was like darkness for the nations of the world (MidrashTehilim, onPs. When Esther is chosen as the queen, unknown to her, Mordecai discovers a plan by the kings wicked advisor, Haman, to kill all the Jews. Their grandfather was Alexander Jannaeus, the second eldest son of John Hyrcanus. The matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king: Mordecai's attitude wasn't "I'm a Jewish man in exile under a pagan king, so I do not care if he is killed.". After Esthers coronation, the king continues to gather virgins in his palace, which the Rabbis understand as an activity meant to reveal Esthers identity. These actions demonstrated the kings respect and admiration for Esther and earned her the loyalty of her people. Gaalya Cornfeld, ed.,Josephus: The Jewish War; Zondervan Publishing House, 1982). Anyway, there's no record of whether Esther was Esther was a Jewish woman who lived in Persia during the period following the destruction of the First Holy Temple, when many Jews had been taken as slaves to Babylonia, which was subsequently overtaken by Persia. After an exhilarating victory, they declared the following day a holiday and (alluding to the lots Haman had cast) named it Purim, which is Hebrew for lots.. 22:26). The Rabbis describe at length Esthers activities after she learned of Hamans decree against the Jews. Help JWA continue to lift up Jewish womens stories, this month and every month, by. Honor the king. As the Queen died on the Isle of Wight, her body was carried on board the HMY Alberta with several yachts taking the mourners and King Edward VII to Gosport in Hampshire and then by train to Victoria station in London. assassinated 20 years earlier (he was probably bout 20-25 years The events of Esther unfold over an eight- to ten-year period. In post-Temple times, a small piece of dough set aside and burnt. If her queenship was unprecedented in the second temple period, it was not unprecedented in the Jewish imaginationQueen Esther had made it possible to imagine a Jewish queen positively. In contrast with other women, whom Ahasuerus married without recording the nuptials or the date of the marriage, Esthers marriage was documented, and the date of her marriage was recorded (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana,Ha-Hodesh ha-Zeh["This monthEx. Her loyalty to her people is admirable, as is . For today's Bible studies, we're going to discuss 10 characteristics of Esther in the Bible. She was placed with her adoptive family, the Kings, on the orders of Queen Esther of Persia, who held a grudge against all Jews. Torah and history converge in a remarkable way in the life of Shelamzion. In the midrashic expansion, on her way to the king Esther encountered various obstacles and she had to pass through seven departments in the palace. Mordechai and Esthers relationship was an important part of the events of the Book of Esther. cit.). We just don't know. 464 BC. With great courage, Esther fasts for three days, arranges a banquet with the king and Haman, then pleads with the king to save the Jews. Later pilgrims mentioned the site, and noted that special celebrations were held there on Shushan Purim. Ahasuerus is moved by her words and instead orders Haman to be hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. The Jews were well acquainted with the command of God, which stated that they must not bow down to false gods nor to those enemies of God who idolized them. Esther's Origins and Her Adoption by Mordecai. Similarly, her son Benjamin knew about the sale of Joseph, but remained silent and did not tell his father. Victoria's funeral began on 2 February 1901. Warrior-kings tend to figure largely as models of leadership in the Western imagination. Esther eventually won the heart of the king and his servants, and she was selected to become the new queen of Persia. Throughout the book of Esther, Queen Esthers bravery and courage is seen as an example of how God can deliver and uses those who are willing to obey and trust Him. She overtook Queen Victoria as the longest reigning monarch in 2015 - Victoria had served for 63 years and lived to the age of 81. The answer she gave was that anasmakhta(Scriptural support) for the writing of the Book of Esther is to be found in the verses mandating that the memory of Amalek be blotted out, with the explicit command(Ex. Her thoughts are characterized by pressured speech, disorganized thought processes, confusion, and paranoia. In the Book of Esther, Mordecai plays a major role in the events leading up to the deliverance of the Jewish people from their enemies. In the midrashic reenactment, Esther sent a message to Mordecai in which she asked him whether Israel had transgressed one of the commandments of the Torah. Queen Elizabeth, who reigned for 70 years as Britain's monarch, died Thursday at Balmoral, her estate in the Scottish Highlands. The Rabbis view this as self-sacrifice on Esthers part, since she was willing to die herself, provided that Haman would also perish; (4) Esther sought to turn Haman into her ally, so that he would not rebel against Ahasuerus the king (and thereby become even more dangerous); (5) Esther wanted to obscure her identity and prevent any suspicion of her being a Jew (since Haman was an antisemite); (6) Esther desired to arouse the Jews to pray and cry out to God, so they would not think that her presence in the royal palace sufficed to neutralize Hamans activity; (7) Esther sought to arouse Gods compassion, to show that the Jews did not oppose Haman, that no one stood in Hamans way, and therefore only He could deliver Israel; (8) Esther hoped that Ahasuerus, who was a capricious king, would change his opinion of Haman (BTMegillahloc. Mordecai would walk about in front of the harem in order to rule for Esther regarding menstrual spotting; another exegetical exposition has Esther showing the spotting from her menstruation to theTorah she-bi-khetav: Lit. No biblical law specifies that only men can reign, although hundreds of years after Shelamzions reign, the rabbis of would interpret Deuteronomy 17:14, which states You will set a king over you as a king, not a queen (Sifre Deuteronomy 157).[3]. The Queen died in the afternoon of September 8, 2022. does not give many details of Esther's life, Persian records do. QueenEsther, the central character in the Biblical book named after her, is extensively and sympathetically portrayed in the Rabbinic sources. Once upon a time a Jewish queen ruled the land. Rabbah8:7; the passage is taken from Josippon). When events took a turn for the worst and Esther learned that Prime Minister Haman planned to kill all Jews in the Persian Empire, on a single day, she decided to act quickly to prevent the genocide. The. "the written Torah." "scroll." The events of Esther took place between 483 and 473 BC, during the first part of King Xerxes's reign when he appointed Esther as his queen. [11] Elias J. Bickerman, The Colophon of the Greek Book of Esther,Journal of Biblical Literature63.4 (1944): 339-62. book of Nehemiah began, although her husband, King Xerxes was She ordered her uncle: "Go, gather together all the Jews and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day."