ESTHER, P,00K or. One of the very latest of the canonical books of the Old Testament, be longing to the third division of the collection known as the Hagiographa. It contains the story of the deliverance of the Jews of Persja from a destruetion planned for them by Haman, the Grand Vizier of Ahasuerus (Xerxes, B.C. 485 05). The heroine of the hook is a Jewess whose original name is Hadassah, but who appears as Esther. The scene is laid at the court of Aha snerns, in Susa. The King. who has deposed his Queen. Vashti, for refusing to obey his orders, gives direction to seek for a beautiful W0111:111 to take Vasht i's place. Esther, a Jewess. is selected as the fairest of maidens, and meets with the favor of the King. She is the cousin of :Mor decai, a Jew of tIn• tribe of Benjamin, by whom slue has been brought up: but shortly after Es ther's elevation a great disaster threatens her people through the refusal of 'Mordecai to pay homage to Haman, the Grand Vizier, and who is a descendant of Agag, King of Amalek ( f. Sam. xv.). Iranian in great anger proceeds to Ahasue rus. and, ACCIISing all the Jewish subjects of dis loyalty. tillers to put 10,000 talents of silver into the royal treasury as the proceeds of the per mission to pillage the Jews. The King consents, and issues an edict for the extermination of the Jews and the confiscation of their property. At this moment Esther, urged on by _Mordecai, inter venes. Uninvited she enters the presence of the King to intercede on behalf of her people. Tile King receives her graciously, and accepts her in vitation to dine with her on two consecutive nights. on the night preceding the second ban quet, at which Esther intended to make known her request, the King learns from the royal ar chives of the services rendered by Mordecai in dis covering a conspiracy against Ahasnerus's life, for which lie had never been rewarded. Bain:in, too, collies to the banquet, and the King, having in mind Mordecai, asks Daman what should lie done with the man whom the King delighteth to honor. Haman replies, and endures the hu of himself leading Mordecai in triumph through the streets. At the second banquet Esther discloses her nationality and exposes the designs of Haman, who is seized and ordered to be executed on a gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai. The latter is raised to the vacant post. of honor, and the Jews are given permission
to defend themselves against the carrying out of the order for their extermination, which, in ac cordance with the customs of the Medes and Persians, could not be revoked. A great dread falls upon the people, and on the day set for the extermination of the Jews the latter cause a great slaughter among their enemies, besides gain ing many converts to their religion. In com inemoration of the deliverance the Feast of Purim was instituted.
The hook of Esther, as is now generally recog nized by scholars, is a romance, which may, how ever, contain an historical kernel, being based on some persecution endured by the Jews of Susa. Mordecai and Haman, as descendants of Benja min and Agag, typify the old feud between He brews and Amalekites. It is also probable that a Babylonian legend or myth has guided the au thor of the book in some of the situations of the dramatic tale. Mordecai is a derivative of Mar dole, the chief god of Babylonia; Esther is a form of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar; while Haman and Vasliti are names analogous to those borne by Elamitie deities. The story thus represents the conflict between Babylonian and Elam itic gods. The Feast of Purim also presents analogies to the Babylonian New Year's Festival.
The language of the book, as well as the cir cumstance that the Persian Empire is treated as a thing of the past, favor a late date for the com position. It cannot lie earlier than the third cen tury B.C., and may belong to the second century, in which the Jews endured a hard lot that led to the uprising 'under the lead of the Maccabees. The purpose of the book is twofold : (1) Primarily to illustrate Cod's care for His people, and thus to encourage the people to loyalty, despite present distress; and (2) to enter a plea for the general observance of a festival which appears at one time to have been limited to the Jews of Baby lonia and Persia. See Punrm.
Consult, besides the commentaries on the book -of Esther, the articles of Toy. "Esther as a Baby lonian Goddess," in The New World, vol. vi. (Boston, 1897) ; Zimmerli, in Zeitsehrift fiir Alt testamentliclic Wissensehaft, vol. x. (Giessen, 1891) ; Jensen, in Wiener Zeitsch rift firs die Kunde deg Morgenlandes, vol. vi. (Vienna, 1S92) ; Erht. hie Purimsage in der )libel (Berlin, 1900).
'ee ESTHER, APOCRYPHAL BOOK OF.