Esther Through the Centuries

This interdisciplinary commentary ranges from early midrashic interpretation to contemporary rewritings introducing interpretations of the only biblical book not to mention God.

• Unearths a wealth of neglected rewritings inspired by the story’s relevance to themes of nationhood, rebellion, providence, revenge, female heroism, Jewish identity, exile, genocide and ‘multiculturalism’
• Reveals the various struggles and strategies used by religious commentators to make sense of this only biblical book that does not mention God
• Asks why Esther is underestimated by contemporary feminist scholars despite a long history of subversive rewritings
• Compares the most influential Jewish and Christian interpretations and interpreters
• Includes an introduction to the book’s myriad representations in literature, music, and art
• Published in the reception-history series, Blackwell Bible Commentaries

List of Plates xi

Series Editors’ Preface xiii

Acknowledgements xv

Introduction 1

Why Reception? 2

An Irredeemable Book? 7

Jewish Tradition 10

Christian Tradition 12

Summary of Works 13

Godless Scripture 21

Allegory 28

Providence, Chosenness, Nationhood 32

Political Application 46

Esther as Literature 49

Esther 1:1–9 52

1:1 The King and Empire 53

1:3 The King’s Feast 57

1:4 Display of Wealth 58

1:8 No Compulsion to Drink 59

1:9 Women’s Feast 60

Vashti 61

Esther 1:10–22 68

1:12 Disobedience 68

1:13–22 The Empire Strikes Back 83

1:19 Vashti’s Punishment 88

1:22 The Decree 89

Esther 2:1–7 93

2:1 The King Remembers Vashti 93

2:2–4 To the Harem 95

2:5–6 Mordecai 98

2:7 Hadassah- Esther 103

Esther 2:8–23 109

2:8–14 Esther in the Harem 109

2:15 Esther’s Beauty 121

2:16–18 Esther Becomes Queen 125

Esther 3 133

3:1 Haman 134

3:2 ‘But Mordecai did not bow down’ 139

3:7 Casting Lots 143

3:8 (Mis)Representing Jews: A People Set Apart 145

3:8 Evil Counsellors 151

3:12–15 Genocidal Edicts 155

3:15 ‘The King and Haman sat down to drink’ 157

Esther 4:1–14 160

4:1–3 ‘Great mourning among the Jews’ 160

4:4–14 Esther and Mordecai Confer 163

4:14 ‘From another quarter’ 174

Esther 4:15–17 176

4:15 ‘Fast ye for me’ 176

4:16 ‘If I perish, I perish’ 180

Esther as Exemplar of Resolve 184

4:17 ‘Mordecai [. . .] did everything as Esther had ordered him’ 191

Esther 5 192

Esther before Ahasuerus 192

5:4–8 Esther’s First Banquet 215

5:9–14 Haman’s Wrath 218

Esther 6 221

The King’s Sleeplessness 222

6:11 The Triumph of Mordecai 227

Esther 7 and 8 233

7:1–6 Esther’s Second Banquet 233

7:7–8 Haman’s Fate 238

8:1–6 ‘How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?’ 244

8:7–14 The Irreversible Decree 244

8:15–17 ‘The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour’ 249

Esther 9 and 10 254

9:2 Scenes of Slaughter 256

9:7–10 Ten Sons of Haman 265

9:26 Purim 267

9:29 & 32 ‘Then Esther the Queen . . . wrote with all authority’ 275

10 The Greatness of Mordecai 277

Bibliography 280

Primary Sources

Pre- 1500 280

1500–1800 281

Post- 1800 284

Esther Secondary Sources 289

Other Secondary Sources 293

Index 296

Jo Carruthers teaches at Lancaster University, UK, and works across the disciplines of literary and religious studies. Her books include The Politics of Purim: Law, Sovereignty and Hospitality in the Aesthetic Afterlives of Esther (2020); England's Secular Scripture: Islamophobia and the Protestant Aesthetic (2011); and Literature and the Bible: A Reader (with Mark Knight and Andrew Tate, 2013).

Esther Through the Centuries traces Jewish, Christian and secular reception of the only biblical book not to mention God. Author Jo Carruthers introduces the most significant adaptations of this story of Jewish life in the Persian Empire; a tale about averted genocide, a heroic queen and the machinations of court politics. Prominent in the Jewish tradition because of the festival of Purim, Esther has also provoked and inspired Christian and secular writers, artists, musicians and commentators for two millennia.

This commentary unearths a wealth of neglected rewritings inspired by the story's engagement with themes of nationhood, rebellion, providence, revenge, female heroism, Jewish identity, exile and genocide. Ranging from early rabbinic interpretation to contemporary rewritings, the book discusses the significance of Esther for artists such as George Eliot, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Handel and Michelangelo, who are drawn to the cosmic drama of good versus evil and its authoritative yet transgressive queen. The book examines Esther chapter by chapter, revealing a surprising afterlife remarkably resonant with contemporary preoccupations.

Esther Through the Centuries is published within the Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries series. Further information about this innovative reception history series is available at www.bbibcomm.info.