THE TRUE HEROINE OF PURIM

 

THE STORY OF PURIM FROM A HISTORICAL APPROACH

This history of Purim covers my study of Purim history relying on specific, documented sources that allow for a theoretical approach to the subject matter.

An 18th-century Megillat Esther

During the festival of Purim we read the Book of Esther (Megillahs Esther).  The story of Purim is set in ancient Persia, but just as well could take place today.  It is a story about assimilated Jews living outside the Land of Israel, afraid to reveal their identity, intermarriage, Jew hatred, being in control of your life and standing up for yourself and for your people.

In this essay I have tried to pin down what we know about the four main individuals in Megillahs Esther: Mordechai, Ahasuerus, Haman and Esther. I think that they are real people and not characters of historical fiction. It is a very interesting time in our Jewish past and involves Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and Cyrus the Great of Persia, two well-known foreign powerhouses who have left a large footprint in Jewish history.

Adding depth to Megillas Esther necessitated bringing together the historical reality of persons and events as best I can.  This means not only taking a hard look at authenticity and substantiated facts, but trying not to dissemble or have an axe to grind.  Hopefully, speculation is kept at a minimum.

The story of Purim begins in the year 598 BCE.  This is when the King of Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar, exiled the King of Judah and no less than 3,000 of its Jewish citizens to Babylonia.  One of these citizens is the hero of the Book of Esther.  His name is Mordechai; he is the cousin of Esther.

The basis and timeline for this essay hangs on two statements, one from the Babylonian Chronicles and another from the Book of Esther.  It is also supported by 2 Kings and the Book of Ezra. The Babylonian Chronicles are a series of cuneiform writings from the time of Nebuchadnezzar that explain in exquisite accurate detail the history of Babylonian Empire.  

 

The Book Esther speaks for itself. The quote from the Babylonian Chronicles is as follows: “In the seventh year, in the month of Kislev, the king of Akkad mustered his troops, marched to the Hatti-land, and encamped against the City of Judah and on the ninth day of the month of Adar [598 BCE] he seized the city and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice and taking heavy tribute brought it back to Babylon”. 

 

Nebuchadnezzar began his reign in 605 BCE.  In the 7^th year of his reign, 598 BCE he invaded Hatti-Land which is the Levant or Syria-Israel.  The City of Judah is Jerusalem.  Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and laid siege to Jerusalem.  The Judean King, Jehoiakim died and the people appointed his son Jeconiah as king.  After three months, fearing rebellion, Nebuchadnezzar removed Jeconiah from the throne, installed a new king and exiled the old king along with maybe 3,000 prominent Jews to Babylonia.  The exiled contingent was made up of individuals that were in Nebuchadnezzar’s opinion were potential troublemakers. These would be: royalty, aristocrats, weapons makers and military people.

After 11 years under the new king, the Jews revolt once more.  After a long siege, Jerusalem falls in 586 BCE. The Kingdom of Judah is in ruins and is devoid of much of its population.  No longer a kingdom, it becomes a small Babylonian province called Yehud. Then in 539 BCE, the Persian Empire led by Cyrus the Great defeats the Babylonians.  A year later, Cyrus issues a proclamation entreating the Jews to return to Yehud (now a minor Persian sub-province not even a satrapy) and rebuild our Temple.

What Do We Know About Mordechai?

 

The Triumph of Mordecai by Pieter Lastman, 1624.

According to the Book of Esther, Mordechai was among those Jews. exiled in 598 BCE He was probably an infant or very small boy at that time. The father of Mordecai is Avihiel, which translates to “my father is a soldier. Mordechai grew up in Babylonia, modern day Iraq. I’m guessing that he was surrounded by prominent sophisticated people and knew his way around the aristocracy.

 

When Cyrus the Great appealed to the Jews in 539 BCE to return to their homeland, Mordechai did not return to Yehud.  He was no Zionist. Instead, somehow or other, as a grown man, he made his way due east to the Persian capital of Susa (Shushan) in modern day Iran.

 

In answer to a question as to why Mordechai did not return to Jerusalem when Cyrus made it possible for Jews to return consider the following excerpt from a lecture by Professor Oved Lipschitz, Tel Aviv University:

 

“…Jerusalem was wretchedly poor, not just in the period after the Babylonian destruction, but also at the height of the Persian period. In light of this clear archaeological evidence, we should interpret the return to Zion as a slow and gradual process that didn’t leave its imprint on the archaeological data”..

 

Jerusalem was a small, unfortified city with only few hundreds of people living in and around it. Probably it was not in the best interest of Mordechai and his ward, young Esther, to live in or around Jerusalem at that time.

 

Cyrus died in 530 BCE and was succeeded by his son Cambyses who we call Achashverosh or Ahasuerus. The Purim story begins 3 years into Ahasuerus’s reign. It is in Shushan that we find Mordechai when he first makes his appearance in the Book of Esther. Mordechai had to be at least 71 years old at that time.

 

 Our story begins to take shape, starting with a quote from the Book of Esther at 2:5-6. The quote reads:

 “There was a man, a Jew, in Shushan the capital,  whose name was Mordechai the son of Jair the son of Shimei the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been exiled from Jerusalem along with the ones exiled that were exiled with Jeconiah, king of Judah, who Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had exiled.”

אִישׁ יְהוּדִי, הָיָה בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה; וּשְׁמוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי, בֶּן יָאִיר בֶּן-שִׁמְעִי בֶּן-קִישׁ–אִישׁ יְמִינִי

אֲשֶׁר הָגְלָה, מִירוּשָׁלַיִם, עִם-הַגֹּלָה אֲשֶׁר הָגְלְתָה, עִם יְכָנְיָה מֶלֶךְ-יְהוּדָה–אֲשֶׁר הֶגְלָה, נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל

What else do we know about Mordechai? 

Well, when the story begins there is a new Persian king who has been sitting on the throne for about three years.  He is not Cyrus who died in 530 BCE.  He is Cambyses II, the son of Cyrus the Great. Since Mordechai was born not later than 598 BCE, he had to be at least 71 years old when the story begins.  Mordechai’s father had a brother named Abihail.  His daughter was Esther, who at the time when the story begins was in her late teens.  Her parents must have passed away and Mordechai her much older cousin has become her guardian. As her guardian, Mordechai had a duty to keep Ester out of harm’s way. When he allowed Esther to be taken, Mordechai failed in his responsibility.

 

What Do We Know About Ahasuerus?

 

Ahasuerus and Haman at Esther’s Feast, by Rembrandt,

 

Cyrus dies and there is a new king on the throne. His name is Ahasuerus (אֲ חַ שְׁ וֵרוֹש); what can we say about him?  Well, we can say a lot.  Who was he, and when did he reign? Well, he was not Cyrus the Great, and must have come to rule sometime after Cyrus’ death in 530 BCE.  Many scholars suggest that Ahasuerus was Xerxes I who ruled between 486-465 BCE.  They see in the names Xerxes and Ahasuerus certain similarities on which their claim is based.

If you give any credence at all to the Book of Esther where it states that Mordechai went into exile with king Jeconiah, and that happened in 598 BCE, then Mordechai is least 112 years old when Xerxes began his reign.  Come on folks, claiming that Xerxes is Ahasuerus is ridiculous; Ahasuerus was somebody else.

I think Ahasuerus was the king of Persia who immediately followed Cyrus’ reign.  This would be Cambyses (Kamboujyeh or Kabūjiya) II. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great and he ruled from 530 BCE until 522 BCE.  Mordechai’s earliest age at Cambyses’ II’s death would be 76 years old, and unlike the probable age at the time of Xerxes is reasonable.  A weakness to this hypothesis is that Cambyses ruled for only eight years, not enough time for all the events in the Book of Esther to take place.  However, during the lifetime of Cyrus, in 539 BCE, Cambyses was proclaimed king of Babylonia giving another nine years for his story to unfold.

The Megillas Esther begins in the 3^rd year of Ahasuerus’ reign, 527 BCE, with the wine party that lasts for 180 days.  The Persian-Greek historian writes that Cambyses was given over to drunkenness.  The association of that long wine fest and overindulging on Purim with strong drink cannot be passed up he re.

Herodotus also writes that Cambyses was insane, had a short fuse and committed many crimes.  Maybe this adds credence about the plot discovered by Mordechai to assassinate Ahasuerus.  Most telling however, is that Cambyses murdered one of his wives. My guess is that it was not Vashti. But no wonder that Esther was extremely fearful in approaching Ahasuerus with her petition.  The man was irrational, had a bad temper and was given over to violence.

Having said that, we know that he loved Esther, and because of his lovefor her he viewed her people the Jews with much favor.  Cambyses also favored the Jews.  In 525 BCE Cambyses set out and succeeded in conquering Egypt.

During his campaign he is said to have wreaked havoc, looting temples, ridiculing the local gods, and defiling royal tombs.  When Cambyses conquered Egypt, he declared himself as “Pharaoh”.  As to how he was regarded there are two opposing points of view:

The historian, Herodotus puts an emphasis on Cambyses’ supposed killing of the Egyptian sacred bull called Apis. On the contrary, others say that Cambyses took part in the preservation and burial ceremony of Apis.

There is an Egyptian record that says Cambyses decreased the sizable income Egyptian temples received from the Egyptian pharaohs.  Under Cambyses, only three temples were given permission to maintain their entitlements. This caused those Egyptian priests who lost their entitlements to circulate spurious stories about Cambyses…maybe true…maybe not.

In Egypt at this time there was a military colony of Jews living on an island in the Nile called Elephantine.  The Jews of Elephantine had their own Temple. This is a quote from a Jewish inhabitant of Elephantine found on a papyrus, showing Cambyses’ favorable connection to Jews:

“’Now our forefathers built this temple in the fortress of Elephantine back in the days of the kingdom of Egypt, and when Cambyses came to Egypt he found it built. They (the Persians) knocked down all the temples of the gods of Egypt, but no one did any damage to this temple.”

I think that because of his love for Esther, Cambyses looked upon Jews with favor.

Who was Haman?

Esther denouncing Haman by Ernest Normand

I came across some information which may shed some light on Haman.  It is a bit of a shaggy dog story, but let me explain:

In 597- 598 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar exiled King Jeconiah and his entourage to Babylon. As stated in Jeremiah 52: 31-34 and 2 Kings 25:27-30, their exile lasted for 37 years until the death of Nebuchadnezzar at which time they were set free.  And incidentally, Nebuchadnezzar on a daily basis provided food for them.  This daily food allowance is also spelled out in Babylonian cuneiform tablets.

While all of this is interesting, what is the connection to Haman?  Well it goes like this:

Very similar to the Jeconiaon is Aga, similar or identical to Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagite,האגגיh situation, but seven years earlier in 604 BCE, the King of Ashkelon and his two sons were also exiled by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon.  As per cuneiform records, their daily food ration was also supplied to them by Nebuchadnezzar.

The surname of the King of Ashkelon is Aga, similar or identical to Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagite,האגגי 

I’m guessing that this king or his sons were also set free when Nebuchadnezzar died.  They would not have returned to Ashkelon because that city had been completely destroyed by the Babylonians in much the same way as the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.  Perhaps, similar to Mordechai, they took up residence in Shushan.  Perhaps also because these Agagites were royalty they were able to hold a top administration position in the Persian monarch’s court and expected people to bow down to them, Mordechai included.

What is extremely important is that King Aga was also a Philistine, the last of the Philistine kings.  Philistines were the archenemy of Israel from the time of the Patriarchs.  King Aga knew about Judah because the land of the Philistines of which Ashkelon was a part, bordered on the Kingdom of Judah.  They were neighbors, but shared a mutual hatred.  This explains the vehement contempt that Haman had for Jews in general and to Mordechai in particular.

Who Was Esther?

The simple answer is that I do not know.  Her father’s name was Avihail or in Hebrew: אֲבִיחַיִל .  This translates: “My father is a soldier”.  This may mean that Esther’s father’s father, her grandfather was a military man, one of many exiled to Babylonia in 598 BCE.  Since Esther and Mordechai share the same grandfather, the same would be true for Mordechai.

I am guessing that at the time of the “Beauty Contest” she was a good-looking teenager living in Shushan. Her guardian, Mordechai, failed to protect her from being a candidate for the king’s harem, shame on him.  Esther acquiesced and was compliant in allowing herself to be beautified to find favor in the king’s eyes. She became a harem girl that was intimate with her gentile master. Moreover she hid her Jewishness and must have taken on a non-Jewish persona. Compare her shameful behavior to that of the recently returned women that were taken hostage by Hamas.

There is a connection between the name Esther and one of Cambyses’ wives.  Her name was Roxane.  The name Roxanne is derived from the Greek name Rhōxanē, a derivative of the Persian Roshanak, This name has several meanings such as shining little star, lovely flare and luminous beauty. This name is still popular and in common use in today’s Iran.  Perhaps Esther and Roxanne are one and the same.

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Why Is Vashti Important?

Esther is considered by most people as the symbolic heroine of Purim. She courageously stood up for her people, our people. However, there is another woman who will stand up for all women, Jew or gentile, the worldwide over.

                        

   THE TRUE HEROINE OF PURIM

 Esther is considered by most people as the emblematic heroine of the Purim story. After much wringing of the hands, Esther confesses to her gentile husband that she is a Jew, and most importantly she stands up for the Jewish people. However, there is another woman who will stand up for all women, Jew or gentile, the worldwide over.

In the 3^rd year of his reign, Achashverosh made a 180-day feast for all of the leaders of his vast empire, including military and civilians alike. At the conclusion of this feast he initiated a seven-day drinking celebration just for the nobles and his followers in Shushan. It was held in the palace. The king showed off his wealth. The participants drank wine from a vast horde of golden goblets, and no two goblets were alike.  The king was easy going; you could drink as much as you wanted, there was no arm twisting, no coercion.

On the 7th day of the Wine Drinking fest, Achashverosh, quite drunk, wanted to show off one of his special "possessions" to the attendees.

He ordered seven of his eunuchs to bring the very beautiful Queen Vashti, to the banquet hall where no doubt she would be displayed and most likely ogled and humiliated by the drunken male attendees. Vashti to her credit, refused the king's command as delivered by the eunuchs. Achashverosh became incensed, livid with rage. How dare a woman stand up before him.

But Achashverosh was flummoxed; he did not know what to do. So he turned to his most senior advisors for advice and a course of action. Achashverosh was then advised to dethrone Vashti and repossess her royal estate. It was to be given to some other noblewoman, better than Vashti who would be a more compliant wife. And of course, that woman turned out to be none other than our Queen Esther.

Achashverosh was further advised to issue a decree throughout his empire declaring his actions, so that all women in the empire would learn a lesson and honor and obey their husbands. The decree was translated and transcribed into each language and script of the empire. enabling every man in the empire to be "master in his own house." What a shameful lot.

Vasti was a pioneer. Way before her time she courageously heralded women’s rights, not just for one group of women, but for women worldwide

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I hope that you had plenty to talk about when you last sat down at the table enjoying your Purim festive meal.  And now for your next Shabbat and next year’s Purim celebration you will have a little more to chew on.