Esther

Esther, heroine and central figure in the Book of Esther of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. She was a beautiful Jewish woman, the wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). She and her cousin Mordecai persuaded the king to cancel an order for the extermination of Jews in his realm, plotted by the king’s chief minister, Haman. Instead, Haman was hanged, and the Jews were given permission to destroy their enemies. The Jewish festival of Purim celebrates this event. The Book of Esther was probably written in the 2nd century bce.

Laying the scene at Susa, a residential city of the Persian kings, the Book of Esther narrates that King Ahasuerus deposed his first wife, Queen Vashti, after she refused to display her beauty to the people and nobles at the king’s feast. 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, the orphaned cousin and adopted daughter of Mordecai, won the king’s devotion and was chosen to be the new queen; Mordecai had instructed her to not reveal that she was Jewish. Esther gained even greater favour with Ahasuerus after she helped thwart an assassination plot against him that Mordecai overheard at the palace gate.

Esther’s 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. Haman, having become incensed that Mordecai, a Jew, held him in disdain and refused obeisance, convinced the king that the Jews living under Persian rule were rebellious and should be slaughtered. With the king’s consent, Haman set a date for the execution (the 13th day of the month of Adar) by casting lots and built a gallows specifically for Mordecai. When word of the planned massacre reached Esther, she risked her life by going uninvited to the king to suggest a banquet that Haman would attend. At the meal she pleaded for the Jews, thus revealing herself as Jewish, and accused “this wicked Haman” of plotting the annihilation of her people. Upset, the king stepped out into the palace gardens. On returning, he found Haman “falling on the couch where Esther was.” The king mistook Haman’s frantic pleas for mercy as an attack upon the queen. The outraged king ordered that Haman be hanged on the gallows built for Mordecai and that Mordecai be named to fill Haman’s position. Esther and Mordecai then obtained a royal edict allowing Jews throughout the empire to defend themselves on the day set for their extermination. 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.”

The historical reality of this biblical episode, and whether or not Esther actually existed, has often been questioned. The actual origins of the Purim festival, which was already long established by the 2nd century bce, remain unknown. The ritual observance of Purim begins with a day of fasting, Taʿanit Esther (Fast of Esther) on Adar 13, the day preceding the actual holiday, in honour of the fast Mordecai and the other Jews held on Esther’s behalf when she went uninvited to the king.