The Story of Esther, Revised to Furnish Purim with a History

The Purim Connection

The book of Esther in its current form seems like a festival legend, a story which was written to explain the origins of Purim, and to promote its observance.^[1] Yet many scholars have argued that the book’s emphasis on Purim is secondary , and that the original Esther story and the festival of Purim were independent of one another until the editor of the Book of Esther linked the two together.^[2]

The loose grounding of the concrete festival observances prescribed by the book—the festive meal, the sending of food-portions, and the giving of alms to the poor—have little intrinsic connection to the Esther story and likely existed independent of the story. Some of these rituals are known elsewhere in the Bible: When Ezra the scribe read the Torah of Moses before the people on the first day of the seventh month, that is, on Rosh Hashanah, the entire people went (Neh 8:12) “to eat and drink and send portions and make a great festival…”^[3]

A close look at the narrative heart of the book of Esther shows that all elements connected with the festival of Purim and the 13^th of Adar have been added to the story.

Haman’s Oddly Timed Lottery

When Haman, the newly appointed vizier, requires all palace officials to bow to him, Mordechai refuses and Haman is furious:

^{אסתר ג:ו} וַיִּבֶז בְּעֵינָיו לִשְׁלֹח יָד בְּמָרְדֳּכַי לְבַדּוֹ כִּי הִגִּידוּ לוֹ אֶת עַם מָרְדֳּכָי וַיְבַקֵּשׁ הָמָן לְהַשְׁמִיד אֶת כָּל הַיְּהוּדִים אֲשֶׁר בְּכָל מַלְכוּת אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ עַם מָרְדֳּכָי.

^{Esth 3:6} But the thought of striking out against Mordechai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed of the identity of Mordechai’s people. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordechai) who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

At this point, we expect Haman to head to the king to get permission to kill the Jews, but instead, Haman casts lots to determine a date for the massacre:

^{אסתר ג:ז} בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן הוּא חֹדֶשׁ נִיסָן בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ הִפִּיל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל לִפְנֵי הָמָן מִיּוֹם לְיוֹם וּמֵחֹדֶשׁ לְחֹדֶשׁ [תה"ש: להשמיד עם מרדכי ביום אחד. ויפל על שלשה עשר יום לחדש] שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר הוּא חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר.

^{Esth 3:7} In the first month, that is, the month of Nisan, in year twelve of King Ahasuerus’ reign, pur, that is, the lot was cast before Haman to determine a day and a month [LXX: to destroy Mordechai’s people in one day. The lot fell on the thirteenth day of month]^[4] twelve, that is, the month of Adar.

Only after this lottery does Haman approach the king, telling him about this problematic people, and offering to collect a large amount of booty for the king’s coffers after destroying them:

^{אסתר ג:ח} וַיֹּאמֶר הָמָן לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ יֶשְׁנוֹ עַם אֶחָד מְפֻזָּר וּמְפֹרָד בֵּין הָעַמִּים בְּכֹל מְדִינוֹת מַלְכוּתֶךָ וְדָתֵיהֶם שֹׁנוֹת מִכָּל עָם וְאֶת דָּתֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ אֵינָם עֹשִׂים וְלַמֶּלֶךְ אֵין שֹׁוֶה לְהַנִּיחָם. ^ג:ט אִם עַל הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב יִכָּתֵב לְאַבְּדָם וַעֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים כִּכַּר כֶּסֶף אֶשְׁקוֹל עַל יְדֵי עֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה לְהָבִיא אֶל גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ.

^{Esth 3:8} So Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants throughout all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of all other peoples. Furthermore, they do not observe the king’s laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them. ^3:9 If the king is so inclined, let an edict be written to destroy them. I will pay 10,000 talents of silver to be conveyed to the king’s treasuries for the officials who carry out this business.”

Wouldn’t it make more sense for Haman to determine the propitious date to carry out the destruction of the Jews after getting the king’s go-ahead?^[5] Moreover, Haman merely asks the king that the law about the annihilation of the disloyal people be “written,”^[6] and makes no mention of the specific date determined by the lottery.

The whole casting of the lot here is disruptive and is likely secondary.^[7] Removing the casting of the lot in v. 7 allows direct narrative continuity between Haman’s decision to destroy the Jews (v. 6) and his turning to Ahasuerus for permission (vv. 8–9).^[8]

Haman’s casting of the lot was added in v.7 to explain the name of Purim, as being rooted in the pur, that is, the lot, that was cast before Haman to determine a propitious date for the destruction of the Jews, and which fell on the 13^th day of Adar.^[9]

The Artificiality of Haman’s Letter

Ahasuerus approves Haman’s request and gives him the royal signet ring (3:10–11). Then, on the 13^th of Nisan (3:12), Haman sends out signed and sealed letters throughout the empire, calling for the destruction of the Jews eleven months later, on the 13^th of Adar.^[10]

This call for the destruction of the Jews almost a year after the incident with Mordechai undermines the dramatic tension of the story and makes little sense. Also, why would anyone seeking to annihilate an entire, widely dispersed people, choose to restrict himself to doing so on only a single day? According to Esther 9:12–15, one day was not even enough to kill eight hundred enemies of the Jews in the lone city of Susa!

These impractical details compromise the logic of the drama, but facilitate the construction of the holiday of Purim as a time charged with great significance. Though “fate” determined that the thirteenth day of Adar was a propitious time for the annihilation of the Jews, it in fact became the occasion for the successful destruction of the Jews’ mortal enemies! That is a day worth celebrating!

This entire episode about the messengers bringing letters stems from the same hand that added the casting of the lots (3:7). The original Esther story did not relate that Haman sent letters throughout the empire on the 13^th of Nisan calling for the destruction of the Jews on the 13^th of Adar: the bulk of Esther 3:10–15 is secondary.^[11]

The original story had no fixed date for the killing. Instead, once the proposition was written into law in Susa, Haman would take care of the logistics of the destruction of the Jews by whatever means he deemed appropriate, beginning as soon as possible, and continuing for as long as it takes.^[12]

Since the destruction of the Jews was not eleven months away, the situation was indeed dire, prompting Mordechai and then Esther to act immediately. And since it was Haman who would personally implement the annihilation of the Jews, it was his personal downfall that Esther, with Mordecai’s encouragement, urgently pursued.

Susa versus the Empire

When we remove the description of the letters and the messengers (vv. 12–15a) including Ahasuerus giving Haman his signet ring (v. 10)—necessary for sealing royal letters—the following tight ending to the scene emerges:

^{אסתר ג:יא} וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ לְהָמָן הַכֶּסֶף נָתוּן לָךְ וְהָעָם לַעֲשׂוֹת בּוֹ כַּטּוֹב בְּעֵינֶיךָ. // ^ג:טו וְהַדָּת נִתְּנָה בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה וְהַמֶּלֶךְ וְהָמָן יָשְׁבוּ לִשְׁתּוֹת וְהָעִיר שׁוּשָׁן נָבוֹכָה.

^{Esth 3:11} The king said to Haman, “Keep the money, and do with the people as you please.” // ^3:15 So the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.

The writing of the letters disrupts the flow, since the clear implication is that the two men drink once the king gives his agreement to issue the edict. Moreover, the description of letters being sent throughout the empire masks the emphasis of the older form of the narrative, whose dramatic focus revolves around Susa. It was only when the agenda of the story shifted to the promotion of a common holiday for all Jews in all their locations that it became important to highlight the danger to Jews throughout the empire.

The dispatching of Haman’s letters throughout the empire appears again in the opening of the next chapter, where it is also disruptive, as this chapter also originally focused on events in Susa and not on the empire as a whole (the supplemental passage is indented):

^{אסתר ד:א} וּמָרְדֳּכַי יָדַע אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר נַעֲשָׂה וַיִּקְרַע מָרְדֳּכַי אֶת בְּגָדָיו וַיִּלְבַּשׁ שַׂק וָאֵפֶר וַיֵּצֵא בְּתוֹךְ הָעִיר וַיִּזְעַק זְעָקָה גְדֹלָה וּמָרָה. ^ד:ב וַיָּבוֹא עַד לִפְנֵי שַׁעַר הַמֶּלֶךְ כִּי אֵין לָבוֹא אֶל שַׁעַר הַמֶּלֶךְ בִּלְבוּשׁ שָׂק.

^{Esth 4:1} When Mordechai learned all that had been done, Mordechai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; ^4:2 he went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.

^ד:ג וּבְכָל מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה מְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר דְּבַר הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ מַגִּיעַ אֵבֶל גָּדוֹל לַיְּהוּדִים וְצוֹם וּבְכִי וּמִסְפֵּד שַׂק וָאֵפֶר יֻצַּע לָרַבִּים.

^4:3 In every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

^ד:ד (ותבואינה) [וַתָּבוֹאנָה] נַעֲרוֹת אֶסְתֵּר וְסָרִיסֶיהָ וַיַּגִּידוּ לָהּ וַתִּתְחַלְחַל הַמַּלְכָּה מְאֹד וַתִּשְׁלַח בְּגָדִים לְהַלְבִּישׁ אֶת מָרְדֳּכַי וּלְהָסִיר שַׂקּוֹ מֵעָלָיו וְלֹא קִבֵּל.

^4:4 When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordechai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

Verse 4 continues the narrative of verse 2 directly; verse 3 was added to bring the Jews of the empire into the drama.

Mordechai’s Letters about Killing Enemies

An additional part of this secondary redactional layer is 8:2–14, 17, where Mordechai writes letters to the provinces after Haman’s execution, laying out the right of Jews to kill their enemies. The staging in the older layer of the story, as reflected in the emphasis of where Mordechai stood in relation to the king (note the phrase in bold), makes this clear:

^{אסתר ח:א} בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נָתַן הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ לְאֶסְתֵּר הַמַּלְכָּה אֶת בֵּית הָמָן צֹרֵר (היהודיים) [הַיְּהוּדִים] וּמָרְדֳּכַי בָּא לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ כִּי הִגִּידָה אֶסְתֵּר מַה הוּא לָהּ. //

^{Esth 8:1} That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordechai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her.^[13] //

^ח:טו וּמָרְדֳּכַי יָצָא מִלִּפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ בִּלְבוּשׁ מַלְכוּת תְּכֵלֶת וָחוּר וַעֲטֶרֶת זָהָב גְּדוֹלָה וְתַכְרִיךְ בּוּץ וְאַרְגָּמָן וְהָעִיר שׁוּשָׁן צָהֲלָה וְשָׂמֵחָה. ^ח:טז לַיְּהוּדִים הָיְתָה אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה וְשָׂשֹׂן וִיקָר.

^8:15 When Mordechai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. ^8:16 For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor.^[14]

The bolded phrases assume that everything in between occurs while Mordechai is standing in the king’s presence. In verses 2–6 Esther suddenly prays for the salvation of the Jews again, and in 7–8, the king agrees to allow Esther and Mordechai to write new decrees. All of this assumes the existence of Haman’s original letters and is part of that revision.

Even clearer, the intervening material of Esther 8:9–14, which relates that Mordechai summoned the king’s scribes on the twenty-third day of Sivan—several weeks later!—dictated letters in the king’s name in multiple scripts and languages, and had the letters sent off via couriers, does not coincide with the image of Mordechai standing before the king.^[15]

When we remove the theme of an empire wide pogrom, and work with a story about a massacre being planned by Haman alone, beginning in Susa, then 8:15–16 constitute the perfect conclusion to this story. The words “and the city of Susa held a joyous celebration” serves as a pointed reversal of “and the city of Susa was dumfounded” (Esth 3:15). The spontaneous joy of Susa comes in response to the hanging of Haman and the exaltation of Mordechai; it has nothing to do with Mordechai’s letters. The note about the great light and joy of the Jews represents the story’s great finale, the culmination of the three-day fast of the Jews of Susa (Esth 4:15).

The War

If the book of Esther originally ended the celebration following Haman’s execution and Mordechai’s triumph (8:16), then the very long account of the war and the establishment of Purim in chapter 9 must be entirely supplementary. The secondary nature of this material explains the origins of the suspicious doublet regarding merriment and celebration.

As noted, upon Mordechai’s executing Haman and Ahasuerus granting Mordechai the status Haman previously enjoyed, “the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.” Then after the war, this joy takes place again (Esth 9:17–19, 20–23), when the Jews spontaneously feast and celebrate on the days immediately following the killing of their enemies on thirteenth and fourteenth of Adar.

This double jubilation developed only because a later editor needed to add an empire-wide war in Adar to a story which ended with the killing of the bad guy almost a year earlier, since the war is what gives a narrative context for the festival of Purim, which falls out on the 14^th (and 15^th) of Adar.

An additional factor suggests that everything from chapter 9 on is secondary. As noted by the late David J. A. Clines, the discourse in Esther 9–10 displays a marked drop in the quality. While the narrative of Esther 1–8 is mostly clear, well-structured, and highly suspenseful, the discourse about the festival is choppy, repetitive, and tedious.^[16] I suspect that many yearly listeners to the Megillah-reading on Purim share my annual sense of growing impatience after Haman has been hung, and Mordechai has been glorified—it is time for the story to end now.

Turning the Story of Esther into an Etiology for Purim

The Esther story, rather than written to provide a new rationale for the festival of Purim, existed, in an earlier form, without relation to the festival. Many other biblical stories were similarly co-opted at a late stage to serve as grounds for a festival or a sacred rite.^[17]

It is difficult to determine when the editors of the book of Esther converted the relatively innocent and humorous tale about the salvation of the Jews into the more stark and violent charter for the holiday of Purim.^[18] This evolution may reflect shifts in Jewish-Gentile relations. In the original tale, the “city of Susa” identifies with the Jews and shares in their agony as well as their triumph. In the final form of the story, in contrast, eight-hundred enemies of the Jews must be eliminated from Susa, and the anti-Jewish attitudes of Haman become endemic of a multitude of citizens throughout the empire.

Making the Story Sound Historical

Part of the book’s revision was adding a chronological framework. The original book used vague timing: “in those days” (Esther 1:2; 2:21), “after these things” (Esther 2:1; 3:1), “on the third day” (Esther 5:1), “on that day” (Esther 5:9; 8:1), “on that night” (Esther 6:1). These general time-notations fit an entertaining narrative, whose quick-paced drama humorously speeds from one scene to the next.

In contrast, the revisions listed above contain specific dates (see Esther 3:7, 12; 8:9; 9:1). Moreover, sometimes, such dates were added to the earlier form of the story. This is especially notable in the description of the banquet that has both general time-notation (bold), and a more specific time (underlined):

^{אסתר א:ב} בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם כְּשֶׁבֶת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ עַל כִּסֵּא מַלְכוּתוֹ אֲשֶׁר בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה. ^א:ג בִּשְׁנַת שָׁלוֹשׁ לְמָלְכוֹ עָשָׂה מִשְׁתֶּה לְכָל שָׂרָיו וַעֲבָדָיו...

^{Esth 1:2} In those days, when King Ahasuerus occupied the royal throne in the fortress Susa, ^1:3 in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all the officials and courtiers…

Another example of a date added to the text’s original layer is Esther being taken to the king’s bedroom on the month of Teveth of the seventh year of his reign (2:16), a notice which interrupts the flow of the story unnecessarily.

Intent on promoting Purim as the commemoration of real, historical events, the editors provided verisimilitude by including the kind of dating used in historical chronicles. After all, what were the chances that masses of people would bother celebrating Purim if it was in commemoration of a fairy tale?

The chronological framework slowed down the pace of the story, and added an atmosphere of history and seriousness. Perhaps it was the combination of historicity and humor that made the final form of the story such a success.