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Esther
By Karen H. Jobes Zondervan
Copyright © 1999 Zondervan
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-310-20672-3
Chapter One
Esther 1:1-8 * * *
This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present.
For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king's palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest, who were in the citadel of Susa. The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king's liberality. By the king's command each guest was allowed to drink in his own way, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished.
Original Meaning
The book begins "This is what happened ..." (Heb., wyhy), which is the introductory formula found in other historical books, such as Joshua, Judges, and Samuel. Regardless of how we judge the historicity of the book, the author's introduction to the story suggests he intends for his readers to understand the ensuing story as events that actually happened.
These events occurred during the time of Xerxes, the Persian king who reigned from 486-465 B.C. Xerxes is probably the Greek transliteration of his Persian name Khshayarshan. In the Hebrew language his name takes the form Ahasuerus (pronounced Ahashwerosh). This name has no meaning in Hebrew, but when pronounced aloud sounds something like King Headache in English.
Xerxes was the son and successor of Darius I Hystaspes, under whose benefaction the temple in Jerusalem had begun to be rebuilt (Hag. 2:1-9; Zech. 7:1; 8:9). Xerxes is also mentioned in Ezra 4:6 as the reigning king when those opposed to that rebuilding project brought accusations against it.
Xerxes was known for his consolidation of the Persian empire "from India to Cush," corresponding to the regions of modern Pakistan and northern Sudan, respectively. The reference to 127 provinces has been taken by some scholars as a historical inaccuracy. The standard administrative region within the Persian empire was known as a satrapy and was governed by an official called a satrap. The satrap was responsible for all administration of the region, including collecting tribute (i.e., taxes) and raising an army on the king's behalf. A vast administration was required to govern and collect tribute throughout an empire that encompassed many nations and peoples of various languages. According to Herodotus, Xerxes' father, Darius, created twenty satrapies comprised of sixty-seven tribes or nations. There is no extant historical evidence that at any time were there as many as 127 satrapies, nor even 120 (as mentioned in Dan. 6:1).
In 1:1, however, the Hebrew word used does not mean "satrapy" but "province" and probably refers to a smaller metropolitan region that encompassed a city. In Daniel 2:49 the same Hebrew word refers to the "province of Babylon"; in Ezra 2:1 and Nehemiah 7:6 it refers to the province of Judea surrounding the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem and Judea were a small part of the large satrapy of the Trans-Euphrates region. The relationship between the provinces and satrapies is unclear, but there were presumably a considerably larger number of provinces than satrapies. Furthermore, the number of provinces probably changed as cities were gained and lost in war. Moreover, since a satrapy was an arbitrary administrative unit, their number also likely changed to meet changing administrative needs. It is not surprising that documents written at different times during the Persian period may disagree on the numbers.
Since the authors of both Esther and Daniel use approximately the same number, most likely they are referring to smaller administrative units. Some commentators, especially in antiquity, have taken the number to be symbolic of Xerxes' reigning over all the whole earth (e.g., 12 [the number of the tribes of Israel] x 10 [the number of completeness] + 7 [the number of perfection]). F. Bush points out that the concern for historicity in this instance obscures the purpose of the number in the narrative: "By the choice of the larger number, the pomp and glory of the empire is magnified, contributing to the sardonic picture presented in this whole chapter." This use of the number is consistent with the grandiose picture painted of the Persian empire by the author in chapter 1. By choosing to refer to the smallest administrative units of the empire (hence the larger number), the author may also be implying that there was nowhere the Jews could go to hide from the decree of death that would be pronounced against them.
Susa was one of the four capital cities from which the Persian monarchs ruled (the others were Ecbatana [cf. Ezra 6:2], Babylon, and Persepolis). The royal court wintered at the palace in Susa, for the summer temperatures there were intolerable. Daniel previously had a vision at Susa (Dan. 8:2), and later Nehemiah served in Susa as cup-bearer to Xerxes' son, Artaxerxes I (Neh. 1:1).
Xerxes ascended the throne in November 486 B.C. at the age of thirty-two. The events of the Esther story span a period of about ten years, beginning in the third year of his reign, 483 B.C. At the time Xerxes ascended the throne, Persia was in conflict with the Greeks on their western frontier. Xerxes' father Darius had been defeated in his attempt to take Athens. The empire was resting in preparation for its next campaign against the Greeks.
The banquet held "in the third year" of Xerxes' reign (1:3) corresponds well with the great war council of 483 B.C., held to plan for the Persian invasion of Greece. Xerxes was mustering the nobles, officials, military leaders, princes, and governors of the provinces in Susa to rally support for his military campaign against the Greeks. The vast expanse of the Persian empire, from modern Pakistan in the east to modern Turkey in the west, encompassed many people groups with different languages, ethnic origins, and religions. Maintaining their support and loyalty over such a diverse and far-flung empire was no small feat. During the 180 days of the council, Xerxes displayed his wealth and glory to consolidate the leaders of the many provinces of the empire under his authority and to gain their loyalty to his cause. Herodotus records Xerxes as saying to his assembled nobles, possibly during the very banquet described in Esther:
For this cause I have now summoned you together, that I may impart to you my purpose. It is my intent to bridge the Hellespont and lead my army through Europe to Hellas [Greece], that I may punish the Athenians for what they have done to the Persians and to my father. You saw that Darius my father was minded to make an expedition against these men. But he is dead, and it was not granted him to punish them; and I, on his and all the Persians' behalf, will never rest till I have taken and burnt Athens.... As for you, this is how you shall best please me: when I declare the time for your coming, everyone of you must appear, and with a good will; and whosoever comes with his army best equipped shall receive from me such gifts as are reckoned most precious among us.
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