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Introduction
to Esther
This summary of the book of Esther provides information about the title,
author(s), date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief
overview, and the chapters of the Book of Esther.
Although we do not know who wrote the book of Esther, from
internal evidence it is possible to make some inferences about the author and
the date of composition. It is clear that the author was a Jew, both from his
emphasis on the origin of a Jewish festival and from the Jewish nationalism
that permeates the story. The author's knowledge of Persian customs, the setting
of the story in the city of Susa and the absence of any reference to conditions
or circumstances in the land of Judah suggest that he was a resident of a
Persian city. The earliest date for the book would be shortly after the events
narrated, i.e., c. 460 b.c. (before Ezra's return to Jerusalem; see note on 8:12).
Internal evidence also suggests that the festival of Purim had been observed
for some time prior to the actual writing of the book (9:19)
and that Xerxes had already died (see 10:2
and note). Several scholars have dated the book later than 330 b.c.; the
absence of Greek words and the style of the author's Hebrew dialect, however,
suggest that the book must have been written before the Persian empire fell to
Greece in 331.
The author's central purpose was to record the institution of the
annual festival of Purim and to keep alive for later generations the memory of
the great deliverance of the Jewish people during the reign of Xerxes. The book
accounts for both the initiation of that observance and the obligation for its
perpetual commemoration (see 3:7;
9:26-32; see also chart, pp. 234-235).
Throughout much of the story the author calls to mind the ongoing
conflict between Israel and the Amalekites (see notes on 2:5;
3:1-6; 9:5-10), a conflict that began during the exodus
(Ex 17:8-16; Dt 25:17-19) and continued through Israel's
history (1Sa 15; 1Ch 4:43; and, of course, Esther). As the first
to attack Israel after their deliverance from Egypt, the Amalekites were viewed
-- and the author of Esther views them -- as the epitome of all the powers of
the world arrayed against God's people (see Nu 24:20; 1Sa 15:2-3; 28:18). Now that Israel has been released from
captivity, Haman's edict is the final major effort in the OT period to destroy
them.
Closely associated with the conflict with the Amalekites is the
rest that is promised to the people of God (see Dt 25:19). With Haman's defeat the Jews enjoy
rest from their enemies (9:16,22).
The author also draws upon the remnant motif that recurs throughout
the Bible (natural disasters, disease, warfare or other calamities threaten
God's people; those who survive constitute a remnant). Events in the Persian
city of Susa threatened the continuity of God's purposes in redemptive history.
The future existence of God's chosen people, and ultimately the appearance of
the Redeemer-Messiah, were jeopardized by Haman's edict to destroy the Jews.
The author of Esther patterned much of his material on the events of the Joseph
story (see notes on 2:3-4,9,21-23; 3:4;
4:14; 6:1,8,14; 8:6),
in which the remnant motif is also central to the narrative (see Ge 45:7 and note).
Feasting is another prominent theme in Esther, as shown in the
outline below. Banquets provide the setting for important plot developments.
There are ten banquets: (1) 1:3-4, (2) 1:5-8, (3) 1:9,
(4) 2:18, (5) 3:15,
(6) 5:5-6, (7) 7:1-10, (8) 8:17,
(9) 9:17, (10) 9:18.
The three pairs of banquets that mark the beginning, middle and end of the
story are particularly prominent: the two banquets given by Xerxes, the two
prepared by Esther and the double celebration of Purim.
Recording duplications appears to be one of the favorite
compositional techniques of the writer. In addition to the three groups of
banquets that come in pairs there are two lists of the king's servants (1:10,14), two reports that Esther concealed her
identity (2:10,20), two gatherings of women (2:8,19), two fasts (4:3,16), two consultations of Haman with his
wife and friends (5:14; 6:13), two unscheduled appearances of Esther before the
king (5:2; 8:3),
two investitures for Mordecai (6:10-11; 8:15),
two coverings of Haman's face (6:12;
7:8), two royal edicts (3:12-15; 8:1-14), two references to the subsiding of the
king's anger (2:1; 7:10),
two references to the irrevocability of the Persian laws (1:19;
8:8), two days for the Jews to take vengeance (9:5-12,13-15) and two letters instituting the
commemoration of Purim (9:20-28,29-32).
An outstanding feature of this book -- one that has given rise to
considerable discussion -- is the complete absence of any explicit reference to
God, worship, prayer, or sacrifice. This "secularity" has produced
many detractors who have judged the book to be of little religious value.
However, it appears that the author has deliberately refrained from mentioning
God or any religious activity as a literary device to heighten the fact that it
is God who controls and directs all the seemingly insignificant coincidences
(see, e.g., note on 6:1) that make up the plot and issue in
deliverance for the Jews. God's sovereign rule is assumed at every point (see
note on 4:12-16), an assumption made all the more
effective by the total absence of reference to him. It becomes clear to the
careful reader that Israel's Great King exercises his providential and
sovereign control over all the vicissitudes of his beleagured covenant people.
I.
The Feasts of Xerxes (1:1;2:18)
A.
Vashti Deposed (ch.
1)
II.
The Feasts of Esther (2:19;7:10)
III.
The Feasts of Purim (chs. 8-10)
──《New International Version》
Introduction to Esther
We find in this book, that even those Jews
who were scattered in the province of the heathen, were taken care of, and were
wonderfully preserved, when threatened with destruction. Though the name of God
be not in this book, the finger of God is shown by minute events for the
bringing about his people's deliverance. This history comes in between Ezr 6;
7.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Esther》
00 Overview
ESTHER
INTRODUCTION
Characteristic features of the book
In considering the characteristic features of this work, it is
necessary first to decide upon its date, lest we should get this book confused
with the Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, which immediately precede it in our
Canon. Their historical range does not reach later than about 420 b.c. Ezra and
Nehemiah both lived in the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus. Dean Stanley dates
Ezra 459 b.c. and Nehemiah 445 b.c. But the story of Esther belongs to an
earlier period, and to the reign of Xerxes, who was the king before Longimanus.
Dean Stanley dates the story of Esther 485 b.c. It has therefore nothing to do
with the restored Jews, who had at the time settled in Jerusalem under
Zerubbabel, but is wholly concerned with those scattered Jews who remained
behind in the various provinces of the Persian Empire.
The date of the composition of this work and its author cannot
possibly be known. It is but an effort to get out of a difficulty to affirm the
authorship of Mordecai. It is quite
possible--as we find historical records were preserved at the Persian Court of
a previous attempt on the life of the sovereign--that official records were
made of the incidents which led to the death of Haman and the preservation of
the Jews from the scheme laid for their destruction, and that some Jewish
officer, cup-bearer or other, found these records, and transcribed them.
Modern critics think the book was written as early as the third
century, 300-200 b.c. In their view it is not an authentic historical writing.
It is a question whether it contains a nucleus of facts, or is simply a
romantic tale. In any case, its object is simply to commend the observation of
the Feast of Purim.
The Book of Esther is distinctly Persian, and it must surely have
been written in Persia. Its place is properly outside the characteristic Jewish
literature. It classifies rather with the works that now form the Apocrypha.
There is no feature more strongly marked in the whole Jewish literature than
the association of God with every person and every event, every prophecy and
every word. In this Book of Esther the very name of God is wanting, and the
relativity of God to events is never indicated or suggested. “It is the one
example in the sacred volume of a story of which the whole scenery and imagery
breathes the atmosphere of an Oriental Court as completely and almost as
exclusively as the ‘Arabian Nights.’ . . . Even the names which most closely
connect the story with the history of Israel are not Hebrew, but Chaldaean or
Persian. ‘Mordecai’ is ‘the worshipper of Merodach, the war-god of Babylon.’
‘Esther’ is the ‘star of the planet Venus.’ The ‘Purim,’ from which the
Festival of Deliverance took its name, is the Persian word for ‘lot,’ and has
even been supposed to be the name for an ancient Persian solemnity.”
Ahasuerus has, with some confidence, been identified as Xerxes,
whose other name, Achashverosh, sounds very similar to Ahasuerus; and whose
character as known in history is in precise keeping with his conduct as
described in this work. In his time Egypt revolted from the Persian rule, and
was re-conquered; and some five years later occurred the battles of
Thermopylae, Artemis, and Salamis. It may help to fix the period in our minds
if we remember that 477 b.c. is given as the death of Confucius, and 476 as the
death of Gautama, the Buddha. At this time Rome was quite a second-rate Italian
commonwealth.
Verification of the story
It must be admitted that we have no verification of the story of
Esther from any independent sources whatever. Neither such Persian annals as
have been found, nor any Jewish memorials, contain any records of such a peril
and deliverance of the scattered Jews in the Persian provinces as is narrated
in this book.
But the fact remains that the Festival of Purim began to be
observed about this time, and that tradition associated some remarkable
deliverance with it, of which it was treated as a perpetual memorial. Probably
the genesis of this festival needs some further research. It is quite possible
that it really bears relation to the deliverances of the Maccabaean period, and
the love of making mysterious origins for things led to the invention of a tale
associated with earlier times. In the Second Book of Maccabees the festival is
spoken of as the “day of Mordecai,” and Josephus also refers to it. In favour
of its historical genuineness, mention may be made of the appeal of the writer
to the “Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia” (Esther 10:2), which certainly indicates
that the author regarded his work as verifiable.
Purim
The Jews appear to have given the name Purim, or Lots, to this
festival because Haman had thrown lots to ascertain what day would be
suspicious for him to carry into effect the bloody decree which the king had
issued at his instance. But the uncertainty of the origin, or even date of
beginning, of this festival have led to a variety of conjectures in connection
with it. Ewald, in support of his theory that there was, in patriarchal times,
a religious festival at every new and full moon, conjectures that Purim was
originally the full moon feast of the month Adar. Kepler identified the “feast
of the Jews” in John 5:1, with the Feast of Purim, and in
this he is supported by Alford and Ellicott. The Festival lasted for two days,
and was regularly observed on the 14th and 15th of Adar. It was not a Divine
institution, and there was no obligation to keep it at Jerusalem.
The contents of the book of Esther are so familiar to Bible
readers thai they need not be even outlined. On the whole it may be safe to
decide that the main facts of the story are genuinely historical, and that such
a peril for the scattered Jews and such a deliverance did actually scour in the
reign of Xerxes; but it may also be admitted that some later author, of the
period of the Apocryphal books, has worked up the materials at his command into
the elaborate and descriptive story which we now have in our hands..
ESTHER
INTRODUCTION
Characteristic features of the book
In considering the characteristic features of this work, it is
necessary first to decide upon its date, lest we should get this book confused
with the Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, which immediately precede it in our
Canon. Their historical range does not reach later than about 420 b.c. Ezra and
Nehemiah both lived in the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus. Dean Stanley dates
Ezra 459 b.c. and Nehemiah 445 b.c. But the story of Esther belongs to an
earlier period, and to the reign of Xerxes, who was the king before Longimanus.
Dean Stanley dates the story of Esther 485 b.c. It has therefore nothing to do
with the restored Jews, who had at the time settled in Jerusalem under
Zerubbabel, but is wholly concerned with those scattered Jews who remained
behind in the various provinces of the Persian Empire.
The date of the composition of this work and its author cannot
possibly be known. It is but an effort to get out of a difficulty to affirm the
authorship of Mordecai. It is quite
possible--as we find historical records were preserved at the Persian Court of
a previous attempt on the life of the sovereign--that official records were
made of the incidents which led to the death of Haman and the preservation of
the Jews from the scheme laid for their destruction, and that some Jewish
officer, cup-bearer or other, found these records, and transcribed them.
Modern critics think the book was written as early as the third
century, 300-200 b.c. In their view it is not an authentic historical writing.
It is a question whether it contains a nucleus of facts, or is simply a
romantic tale. In any case, its object is simply to commend the observation of
the Feast of Purim.
The Book of Esther is distinctly Persian, and it must surely have
been written in Persia. Its place is properly outside the characteristic Jewish
literature. It classifies rather with the works that now form the Apocrypha.
There is no feature more strongly marked in the whole Jewish literature than
the association of God with every person and every event, every prophecy and
every word. In this Book of Esther the very name of God is wanting, and the
relativity of God to events is never indicated or suggested. “It is the one example
in the sacred volume of a story of which the whole scenery and imagery breathes
the atmosphere of an Oriental Court as completely and almost as exclusively as
the ‘Arabian Nights.’ . . . Even the names which most closely connect the story
with the history of Israel are not Hebrew, but Chaldaean or Persian. ‘Mordecai’
is ‘the worshipper of Merodach, the war-god of Babylon.’ ‘Esther’ is the ‘star
of the planet Venus.’ The ‘Purim,’ from which the Festival of Deliverance took
its name, is the Persian word for ‘lot,’ and has even been supposed to be the
name for an ancient Persian solemnity.”
Ahasuerus has, with some confidence, been identified as Xerxes,
whose other name, Achashverosh, sounds very similar to Ahasuerus; and whose
character as known in history is in precise keeping with his conduct as
described in this work. In his time Egypt revolted from the Persian rule, and
was re-conquered; and some five years later occurred the battles of
Thermopylae, Artemis, and Salamis. It may help to fix the period in our minds
if we remember that 477 b.c. is given as the death of Confucius, and 476 as the
death of Gautama, the Buddha. At this time Rome was quite a second-rate Italian
commonwealth.
Verification of the story
It must be admitted that we have no verification of the story of
Esther from any independent sources whatever. Neither such Persian annals as
have been found, nor any Jewish memorials, contain any records of such a peril
and deliverance of the scattered Jews in the Persian provinces as is narrated in
this book.
But the fact remains that the Festival of Purim began to be
observed about this time, and that tradition associated some remarkable
deliverance with it, of which it was treated as a perpetual memorial. Probably
the genesis of this festival needs some further research. It is quite possible
that it really bears relation to the deliverances of the Maccabaean period, and
the love of making mysterious origins for things led to the invention of a tale
associated with earlier times. In the Second Book of Maccabees the festival is
spoken of as the “day of Mordecai,” and Josephus also refers to it. In favour
of its historical genuineness, mention may be made of the appeal of the writer
to the “Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia” (Esther 10:2), which certainly indicates
that the author regarded his work as verifiable.
Purim
The Jews appear to have given the name Purim, or Lots, to this
festival because Haman had thrown lots to ascertain what day would be
suspicious for him to carry into effect the bloody decree which the king had
issued at his instance. But the uncertainty of the origin, or even date of
beginning, of this festival have led to a variety of conjectures in connection
with it. Ewald, in support of his theory that there was, in patriarchal times,
a religious festival at every new and full moon, conjectures that Purim was
originally the full moon feast of the month Adar. Kepler identified the “feast
of the Jews” in John 5:1, with the Feast of Purim, and in
this he is supported by Alford and Ellicott. The Festival lasted for two days,
and was regularly observed on the 14th and 15th of Adar. It was not a Divine
institution, and there was no obligation to keep it at Jerusalem.
The contents of the book of Esther are so familiar to Bible
readers thai they need not be even outlined. On the whole it may be safe to
decide that the main facts of the story are genuinely historical, and that such
a peril for the scattered Jews and such a deliverance did actually scour in the
reign of Xerxes; but it may also be admitted that some later author, of the
period of the Apocryphal books, has worked up the materials at his command into
the elaborate and descriptive story which we now have in our hands..
──《The Biblical Illustrator》