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. Princess Margaret, the Queen's younger sister, was born in 1930. It is believed that Mordecai was married before the events of the book, as the King of Persia issues a decree for all unmarried women to come to the palace for beautification treatments. Institution: National Library of Israel, Jerusalem. 22:1: For the leader; onayelet ha-shahar[literally, the hind of the dawn], which the Rabbis apply to Esther. What is the reflection of the story of princess urduja? Ahasuerus first tried to turn his face so that he would not look upon Esther, but the ministering angels forcibly turned his head, until he cried out. 100). It is most unlikely that there ever was a Queen Esther, in which One school of thought takes the numerical value ofHadassah= 74 (or 75, including the name itself as a unit) to determine Esthers age(Gen. Rabbah39:13; see below: Esthers Age). Ilan relies upon Bickermans dating, as does Aaron KollersEsther in Ancient Jewish Thought(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014). This meant the king was happy to see her and would not put her to death. Mordecai is mentioned inEsth. 464 BC. The king agreed, not knowing that Esther, his beloved queen, and Mordecai, the man to whom he owed his life, were both Jews. It is also thought that Mordecai may have had additional children, as it is not explicitly mentioned that Esther is his only child. An additional stratagem employed by Esther against Haman was connected with his leading Mordecai on the horse. Then the queen gave Haman's estate to Mordecai and prayed the king to deliver the nation of the Jews from the fear for their lives, and she showed him what the letter that had been sent throughout the country by Haman, the son of Ammedatha; for, she said, if her country were destroyed and her countrymen were to perish, she could herself bear to . Before she went to Ahasuerus, Esther uttered the prayer: O Lord, the God of Israel, who has reigned from days of yore and created the universe, help, please, Your handmaiden who has remained an orphan without father and mother, and who is compared to a pauper who begs from door to door. 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]. Esther invited Ahasuerus and Haman to a feast and the Rabbis ask: why did she invite Haman? On returning, he found Haman falling on the couch where Esther was. The king mistook Hamans frantic pleas for mercy as an attack upon the queen. Josephus final words about Shelamzion are that despite her deviation from proper feminine behavior, she had kept the nation at peace (Jewish Antiquities 13:432). We just don't know. The Jews were in the Babylonian exile. Another view cites the verse (9:27): the Jews undertook and irrevocably obligated themselveswhat they took upon themselves below was confirmed above (BTMegillahloc. 22:5). The Bible does not specify how old she was when her parents died. Additionally, he decreed that anyone hostile to the Jews would be punished. 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. She invited both Haman and Ahasuerus to a private banquet, stirring up jealousy in the King's mind. They derive this from the various verses that reflect the thought of the characters, or that attest to actions of which a normal person could not be cognizant, such as Haman said to himself(Esth. Horev], chap. 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. Alexandra the Maccabee (died ca. Victoria's funeral began on 2 February 1901. Ahasuerus promised Esther that he would grant her request, even to half the kingdom(Esth. Esthers Origins and Her Adoption by Mordecai, Esther Delivers Up Haman and Reveals Her Identity. . [12] Queen Shelamzion Alexandra certainly stood to benefit from Esthers precedent. She was compared to a hind, for just as a hind has a narrow womb and is as desirable to her mate at all times as at the first time, so, too, was Esther as desirable to Ahasuerus at all times as at the first time. but the date of He asked what she wanted. Jacob had traveled a great distance to find Laban. Read Esther 4:1-17. , Rabbi Nathan states, In its season from Shabbat night to Shabbat night, the way [rains] fell in the days of Queen Shelamzion., Megillat Esther: A Godless and Assimilated Diaspora.. This understanding of the Book of Esther is linked to the perception of Esther as a prophet: she is included in the list of seven women prophets(BTMegillah14a; Seder Olam Rabbah21). Rabbah6:11). The short answer is that we'll never know. script>. [10] Frymer-Kensky,In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth(Free Press, 1992), 130. In Esther Chapter 2, royal eunuchs advised Ahasuerus to look for a new queen. Honor the king. Mordecai argued that these three days fast happened to include the Passover night, which shouldn't be a night of fasting. She stayed with Ahasuerus and sacrificed her personal happiness to complete her ultimate mission to enable the building of the Second Temple and the return to Zion. [3] See discussion in Ilan, Daughters of Israel, Weep for Rabbi Ishmael!: The School of Rabbi Aqiva vs. the School of Rabbi Ishmael,Silencing the Queen: The Literary Histories of Shelamzion and Other Jewish Women(Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006). and Nehemiah may have known each other personally. The Jewish dietary laws delineating the permissible types of food and methods of their preparation. The Feast of Purim was instituted to help the Jews remember their deliverance from Haman. 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. In post-Temple times, a small piece of dough set aside and burnt. Yet another tradition maintains that she was eighty years of age(Gen. Rabbah39:13;MidrashAbba Gurion, para. Esthers story culminates when the beloved queen is faced with the decision to either continue to disguise her Jewish heritage and maintain her safety or jeopardize everything to advocate for her people. Lit. When Esther pointed and declared(Esth. Other problems that also call into question the story's reliability include Mordecai being identified as sent into exile by Nebuchadnezzar - an event that must have place over a century before Xerxes assumed power. Esther may or may not have reflected the historical reality of the Persian period, but her story provided a model for a new reality in Shelamzions lifetime. Esther's Origins and Her Adoption by Mordecai. 22:7, 2426). Rabbah1:41; BT Megillah 16a). Through his actions, along with those of his cousin Esther, the Jews were saved from extermination. Mordecai did not bow to Haman because he was a Jew and Haman was an Agagite, the enemies of Gods chosen people. The day before, the 96-year-old queen pulled out of a virtual Privy Council meeting after her doctors advised her to rest. According to other traditions, her bowels were loosened (BTMegillahloc. Queen Shelamzion Alexandra reigned as queen of Judea from 76 to 67 BCE. What happened to Queen Esther in the Bible? Historians say there never was a Queen Vashti of Persia. The Bible doesn't say how old Esther was when she married him, but if she was 17 this would make her born in 500BC. According to the Bible, Mordechai was a Jew who lived in the Persian city of Susa, the modern-day city of Shush, Iran. The Queen Mother lived to the grand age of 101 years and 238 days old. "the written Torah." Like the moon, that is born after thirty days, Esther, too, said(Esth. Just as the myrtle is sweet-smelling but has a bitter taste, so Esther was sweet to Ahasuerus, but bitter to Haman (Esth. When she became orphaned, she was adopted by her cousin Mordecai. Ahasuerus is moved by her words and instead orders Haman to be hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. "order." [1] In preparation for Purim and the reading of Megillat Esther, the story of this forgotten Jewish queen is worth recounting. The best. Sometimes it was hard for Esther because the other Jews were treated badly. Esthers jar was a tangible expression of her emotional devastation, her loss of hope, and her feelings of utter helplessness. ; Frymer-Kensky,In the Wake of the Goddesses, 137-38. Her death is believed to have been around the age of 57. [9] For more on Esthers diplomacy and its place in theMegillahand in understanding female biblical characters, see Michael Foxs TABS essayThe Women in Esther.. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Esther, heroine and central figure in the Book of Esther of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Esther turns in prayer to God and compares the situation of the Jews of Persia to that of the Jews in Egypt: in Egypt the Jews cried out and were answered; and in Persia, they fasted, prayed and cried out over their tribulation and the decree that was harsher than that during the time of the Egyptian servitude. So, we know that Daniel was dead long before Esther was born and A type of non-halakhic literary activitiy of the Rabbis for interpreting non-legal material according to special principles of interpretation (hermeneutical rules). Notably, Shelamzion maintained peace through defensive measures and diplomatic outreach rather than outright acts of aggression. The Book of Esther was probably written in the 2nd centurybce. The midrash relates that Esther asked theTorahscholars to Write of me for all time. The Rabbis replied that it is forbidden to add to what is written in the Torah, and it is not possible to include another book in Scripture, or to establish a new holiday. older than her (do the math a 37 year old king marrying a 14 year He killed Haman in 473BC, when he was 45 ( Esther 3:7 ). This makes Esther 60 years younger than her cousin Mordecai. This also leads to a different understanding of Mordecais involvement, as he walks about in the royal courtyard out of concern for his wife. Verily, I seek Your mercy from window to window in the house of Ahasuerus. The Rabbis devote extensive attention to Esthers observance of the laws of niddah. The regimen of rituals, songs and textual readings performed in a specific order on the first two nights (in Israel, on the first night) of Passover. There was no King Ahasuerus of Persia, but many Bible commentaries observe that Ahasuerus is likely the Hebraicised version of King Xerxes, the Achaemenid leader who ruled from 486 to 465 BCE.Historians say that Queen Amestris was Xerxes' only known wife and was definitely still queen at the time the biblical account says that Xerxes married Esther, casting doubt on the biblical story. Others have suggested an earlier date of translation, ca. The king did not believe in God but Esther did. It was only when Esther came that Ahasuerus removed the likeness of Vashti and replaced it with that of Esther (Esth. Queen Elizabeth II has died today aged 96. During this historical period, the first group of Jews who had returned to Judah struggled to revive temple worship by Moses' Law. Abase him before me, for You abase the proud (Esth. Mordecai had discovered the evil plan of two palace administrators, Bigthan and Teresh, and he wanted to make sure the king was aware of the danger and could take proper precautions to protect himself. Instead, Haman was hanged, and the Jews were given permission to destroy their enemies. 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]". Yes, Mordechai was indeed Esthers cousin. There is not one correct rendering of her name in any rabbinic manuscript (260). No, Esther and Mordecai were not married. The more prevalent Rabbinic opinion is that Hadassah was Esthers second name, with a plethora of interpretations built on the similarity of the myrtle (hadas) to Esther: Esther was so called because she was righteous, and the righteous are called myrtles; she was of average height, like a myrtle, which is neither short nor long; she had a greenish (sallow) complexion, like a myrtle (BTMegillahloc. What Did God Write on the Tablets of Stone? Continue Learning about Religious Studies. Instead, he anticipates Peter's thought in 1 Peter 2:17, before Peter ever wrote it: Fear God. 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 standing in the Inner Court. 49). 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. cit.). By merit of this, Mordecai(Esth. He also arranged for the Jews to gather and fast for the protection of their lives. The night of their union, Ahasuerus loved Esther "above all women" and made her the Persian Empire's Queen. Fortunately, the king was able to get to the bottom of the plot and expose the would-be assassins before any harm came to Mordecai or the king. 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. The Rabbis include Esther among the seven most beautiful women in the world (BT Megillah 15a). Esther also spoke of her merit for observing the womens commandments of the taking ofDuring the Temple period, the dough set aside to be given to the priests. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'coalitionbrewing_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_3',146,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-coalitionbrewing_com-medrectangle-3-0'); Queen Esther was a brave and courageous woman who risked her life many times to save the Jewish people. cit.). King Ahasuerus, named Darius, who became King Darius II. 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.". Additionally, Hamans royal throne and belongings were given to Mordecai, and he was honored by the people of the city. 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. [8]Once there, she does not plead for help but carefully petitions the king, setting in motion a plan to undermine Haman and save the Jewish people.[9]. Her reign lasted less than a decade but still longer than a two-term presidency. Similarly, Shelamzion had to succeed against all odds to maintain her queenship. This exegesis casts the Biblical narrative in a different light. She was the last of the house of Hanover and . The events of Esther unfold over an eight- to ten-year period. ), or her strength wanedPirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer[ed. Do you, or does someone you know, demonstrate the same total commitment to a mission, even at the cost of sacrificing personal happiness? The Rabbis viewed Esther as one who was compelled to marry Ahasuerus against her will. As Esther poured her tears and anguish into the jar, it became a bridge between her innermost feelings and the outside world. How old was Esther when she became queen of Persia? How old was Queen Elizabeth II when she died? Mordechai had a cousin named Esther, who was the daughter of Abihail, a Benjamite. Mordecai was a trusted advisor to King Xerxes of Persia and Esther was his adopted daughter. At the meal she pleaded for the Jews, thus revealing herself as Jewish, and accused thiswickedHaman of plotting the annihilation of her people. [5] Ilan discusses variants of the same traditions inSilencing the Queen, 35-42, drawing attention to how later rabbinic sources gradually eliminate Shelamzion from this tradition and replace her with her contemporary Shimon ben Shetach.
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