THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS
VOLUME IV
BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS FROM JOSHUA TO ESTHER
BY LOUIS GINZBERG
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT
12. ESTHER
THE FEAST FOR THE GRANDEES
The Book of Esther is the last of the Scriptural writings. The subsequent history
of Israel and all his suffering we know only through oral tradition. For this
reason the heroine of the last canonical book was named Esther, that is, Venus,
the morning-star, which sheds its light after all the other stars have ceased
to shine, and while the sun still delays to rise. Thus the deeds of Queen Esther
cast a ray of light forward into Israel's history at its darkest.
The Jews at the time of Ahaseurus were like the dove about to enter her nest
wherein a snake lies coiled. Yet she cannot withdraw, because a falcon bides without
to swoop down upon her. In Shushan the Jews were in the clutches of Haman, and
in other lands they were at the mercy of many murderous enemies to their race,
ready to do the bidding of Haman to destroy and to slay them, and cause them to
perish.
But the rescue of the Jews from the hand of their adversaries is only a part
of this wonderful chapter in the history of Israel. No less important is the exalted
station to which they rose in the realm of Ahasuerus after the fall of Haman,
especially the power and dignity to which Esther herself attained. On this account
the magnificent feast prepared by Ahasuerus for his subjects belongs to the history
of Esther.
The splendor of his feast is the gauge whereby to measure the wealth and power
she later enjoyed.
Ahasuerus was not the king of Persia by right of birth. He owed his position
to his vast wealth, with which he purchased dominion over the whole world.
He had various reasons for giving a gorgeous feast. The third year of his reign
was the seventieth since the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's rule, and Ahasuerus
thought it quite certain that the time had passed for the fulfilment of the prophecy
of Jeremiah foretelling the return of Israel to the Holy Land. The Temple was
still in ruins, and Ahasuerus was convinced that the Jewish kingdom would never
again be restored. Needless to say, it was not Jeremiah who erred. Not with the
accession of King Nebuchadnezzar had the prophet's term of years begun, but with
the destruction of Jerusalem. Reckoned in this way, the seventy years of desolation
were at an end exactly at the time when Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, permitted
the rebuilding of the Temple.
Beside this mistaken cause for a celebration, there were reasons personal to
Ahasuerus why he desired to give expression to joy. A short time before, he had
crushed a rebellion against himself, and this victory he wanted to celebrate with
pomp and ceremony. The first part of the celebration was given over to the hundred
and twenty-seven rulers of the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of his empire.
His purpose was to win the devotion of those of them with whom otherwise he did
not come in direct contact. But can it be said with certainty that this was a
good policy? If he had not first made sure of the loyalty of his capital, was
it not dangerous to have these rulers near him in case of an insurrection?
For six whole months he celebrated the feast for the grandees the nobles and
the high officials, the latter of whom, according to the constitution, were all
required to be Medians under the Persian king Ahasuerus, as they would have had
to be Persians under a Median king.
This was the program of the feast: In the first month Ahasuerus showed his
treasures to his guests; in the second, the delegates of the king's royal vassals
saw them; in the third the presents were exposed to view; in the fourth the guests
were invited to admire his literary possessions, among them the sacred scroll;
in the fifth his pearl and diamond-studded ornaments of gold were put on exhibition;
and in the sixth he displayed the treasures which had been given him as tribute.
All this vast wealth, however, appertained to the crown, it was not his personal
property. When Nebuchadnezzar felt his end draw nigh, he resolved to sink his
immense treasures in the Euphrates rather than let them ascend to his son Evil-merodach,
so great was his miserliness. But, again, when Cyrus gave the Jews permission
to build the Temple, his divinely appointed reward was that he discovered the
spot in the river at which the treasures were sunk, and he was permitted to take
possession of them. These were the treasures of which Ahasuerus availed himself
to glorify his feast. So prodigious were they that during the six months of the
feast he unlocked six treasure-chambers daily to display their contents to his
guests.
When Ahasuerus boasted of his wealth, which he had no right to do, as his treasures
had come from the Temple, God said: "Verily, has the creature of flesh and blood
any possessions of his own? I alone possess treasures, for 'the silver is mind,
and the gold is mine.'"
Among the treasures displayed were the Temple vessels, which Ahasuerus had
desecrated in his drinking bouts. When the noble Jews who had been invited to
the capital saw these, they began to weep, and they refused to take further part
in the festivities. Thereupon the king commanded that a separate place be assigned
to the Jews, so that their eyes might be spared the painful sight.
This was not the only incident that aroused poignant memories in them, for
Ahasuerus arrayed himself in the robes of state once belonging to the high priests
at Jerusalem, and this, too, made the Jews smart uncomfortably. The Persian king
had wanted to mount the throne of Solomon besides, but herein he was thwarted,
because its ingenious construction was an enigma to him. Egyptian artificers tried
to fashion a throne after the model of Solomon's, but in vain. After two years'
work they managed to produce a weak imitation of it, and upon this Ahasuerus sat
during his splendid feast.
THE FESTIVITIES IN SHUSHAN
At the expiration of the hundred and eighty days allotted to the feast for
the nobles, Ahasuerus arranged a great celebration for the residents of Shushan,
the capital city of Elam. From the creation of the world until after the deluge
the unwritten law had been in force, that the first-born son of the patriarchs
was to be the ruler of the world. Thus, Seth was the successor to Adam, and he
was followed in turn by Enosh, and so the succession went on, from first-born
son to first-born son, down to Noah and his oldest son Shem. Now, the first-born
son of Shem was Elam, and, according to custom, he should have been given the
universal dominion which was his heritage. Shem, being a prophet, knew that Abraham
and his posterity, the Israelites, would not spring from the family of Elam, but
from that of Arpachshad. Therefore he named Arpachshad as his successor, and through
him rulership descended to Abraham, and so to Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, and to
David and his posterity, down to the last Judean king Zedekiah, who was deprived
of his sovereignty by Nebuchadnezzar.
Then it was that God spake thus: "So long as the government rested in the hands
of My children, I was prepared to exercise patience. The misdeeds of the one were
made good by the other. If one of them was wicked, the other was pious. But now
that the dominions has been wrested from My children, it shall at least revert
to its original possessors. Elam was the first-born son of Shem, and his seed
shall be given the rule." So it happened that Shushan, the capital city of Elam,
became the seat of government.
That there were any celebrations in Shushan was due to Haman, who even in those
early days was devising intrigues against the Jews. He appeared before Ahasuerus,
and said: "O king, this people is a peculiar people. May it please thee to destroy
it." Ahasuerus replied: "I fear the God of this people; He is very mighty, and
I bear in mind what befell Pharaoh for his wicked treatment of the Israelites."
"Their God," said Haman, "hates an unchaste life. Do thou, therefore, prepare
feasts for them, and order them to take part in the merry-makings. Have them eat
and drink and act as their heart desireth, so that their God may become wrathful
against them."
When Mordecai heard of the feasts that were planned, he advised the Jews not
to join in them. All the prominent men of his people and many of the lower classes
took his advice to heart. They fled from Shushan, to avoid being compelled to
take part in the festivities. The rest remained in the city and yielded to force;
they participated in the celebrations, and even permitted themselves to eat of
food prepared by the heathen, though the king had taken care not to offend the
religious conscience of the Jews in such details. He had been so punctilious that
there was no need for them to drink wine touched by the hand of an idolater, let
alone eat forbidden food. The arrangements for the feast were entirely in the
charge of Haman and Mordecai, so that neither Jew nor Gentile might absent himself
for religious reasons.
It was the aim of the king to let every guest follow the inclination of his
heart. When Ahasuerus issued the order, that the officers of his house were to
"do according to every man's pleasure," God became wroth with him. "Thou villain,"
He said, "canst thou do every man's pleasure? Suppose two men love the same woman,
can both marry her? Two vessels sail forth together from a port, the one desires
a south wind, the other a north wind. Canst thou produce a wind to satisfy the
two? On the morrow Haman and Mordecai will appear before thee. Wilt thou be able
to side with both?"
The scene of the festivities was in the royal gardens. The upper branches of
the high trees were made to interlace with each other, so as to form vaulted arches,
and the smaller trees with aromatic foliage were taken up out of the ground, and
placed in artfully constructed tents. From tree to tree stretched curtains of
byssus, white and sapphire blue, and vivid green and royal purple, fastened to
their supports by ropes depending from round silver beams, these in turn resting
on pillars of red, green, yellow, white, and glittering blue marble. The couches
were made of delicate draperies, their frames stood on silver feet, and the rods
attached to them were of gold. The floor was tiled with crystal and marble, outlined
with precious stones, whose brilliance illuminated the scene far and wide.
The wine and the other beverages were drunk only from golden vessels, yet Ahasuerus
was so rich that no drinking cup was used more than a single time. But magnificent
as these utensils of his were, when the holy vessels of the Temple were brought
in, the golden splendor of the others was dimmed; it turned dull as lead. The
wine was in each case older than its drinker. To prevent intoxication from unaccustomed
drinks, every guest was served with the wine indigenous to his native place. In
general, Ahasuerus followed the Jewish rather than the Persian manner. It was
a banquet rather than a drinking bout. In Persia a custom prevailed that every
participant in a banquet of wine had to drain a huge beaker far exceeding the
drinking capacity of any human being, and do it he must, though he lost reason
and life. The office butler accordingly was very lucrative, because the guests
at such wassails were in the habit of bribing him to purchase the liberty of drinking
as little as they pleased or dared. This Persian habit of compelling excess in
drinking was ignored at Ahasuerus's banquet; every guest did as he chose.
The royal bounty did not show itself in food and drink alone. The king's guests
could also indulge in the pleasures of the dance if they were so minded. Dancers
were provided, who charmed the company with their artistic figures displayed upon
the purple-covered floor. That the enjoyment of the participants might in no wise
be marred, as by separation from their families, all were permitted to bring their
households with them, and merchants were released from the taxes imposed upon
them.
So sure was Ahasuerus of his success as a host that he dared say to his Jewish
guests: "Will your God be able to match this banquet in the future world?" Whereunto
the Jews replied: "The banquet God will prepare for the righteous in the world
to come is that of which it is written, 'No eye hath seen it but God's; He will
accomplish it for them that wait upon Him.' If God were to offer us a banquet
like unto thine, O king, we should say, Such as this we ate at the table of Ahasuerus."
VASTHI'S BANQUET
The banquet given by Queen Vashti to the women differed but slightly from Ahasuerus's.
She sought to emulate her husband's example even in the point of exhibiting treasures.
Six store-chambers she displayed daily to the women she had bidden as guests;
aye, she did not even shrink from arraying herself in the high-priestly garments.
The meats and dishes, as at Ahasuerus's table, were Palestinian, only instead
of wine, liqueurs were served, and sweets.
As the weak sex is subject to sudden attacks of indisposition, the banquet
was given in the halls of the palace, so that the guests might at need withdraw
to the adjoining chambers. The gorgeously ornamented apartments of the palace,
besides, were more attractive to the feminine taste than the natural beauties
of the royal gardens, "for a woman would rather reside in beautiful chambers and
possess beautiful clothes than eat fatted calves." Nothing interested the women
more than to become acquainted with the arrangement of the interior of the palace,
"for women are curious to know all things." Vashti gratified their desire. She
showed them all there was to be seen, describing every place as she came to it:
This is the dining-hall, this the wine-room, this the bed-chamber.
Vashti, too, was actuated by a political motive when she determined to give
her banquet. By inviting the wives of hostages in case the men rose in insurrection
against the king. For Vashti knew the ways of statecraft. She not only was the
wife of a king, but also the daughter of a king, of Belshazzar. The night of Belshazzar's
murder in his own palace, Vashti, alarmed by the confusion that ensued, and not
knowing of the death of her father, fled to the apartments in which he was in
the habit of sitting. The Median Darius had already ascended the throne of Belshazzar,
and so it happened that Vashti, instead of finding the hoped-for refuge with her
father, ran straight into the hands of his successor. But he had compassion with
her, and gave her to his son Ahasuerus for wife.
THE FATE OF VASHTI
Though Ahasuerus had taken every precaution to prevent intemperate indulgence
in wine, his banquet revealed the essential difference between Jewish and pagan
festivities. When Jews are gathered about a festal board, they discuss a Halakah,
or a Haggadah, or, at the least, a simple verse from the Scriptures. Ahasuerus
and his boon companions rounded out the banquet with prurient talk. The Persians
lauded the charms of the women of their people, while the Medians admitted none
superior to the Median women. Then "the fool" Ahasuerus up and spake: "My wife
is neither a Persian nor a Median, but a Chaldean, yet she excels all in beauty.
Would you convince yourselves of the truth of my words?" "Yes," shouted the company,
who were deep in their cups, "but that we may properly judge of her natural charms,
let her appear before us unadorned, yes, without any apparel whatsoever," and
Ahasuerus agreed to the shameless condition.
The thing was from God, that so insensate a demand should be made of Vashti
by the king. A whole week Mordecai had spent in fasting and praying, supplicating
God to mete out punishment to Ahasuerus for his desecration of the Temple utensils.
On the seventh day of the week, on the Sabbath, when Mordecai after his long fast
took food, because fasting is forbidden on the Sabbath day, God heard his prayer
and the prayer of the Sanhedrin. He sent down seven Angels of Confusion to put
an end to Ahasuerus's pleasure. They were named: Mehuman, Confusion; Biztha, Destruction
of the House; Harbonah, Annihilation; Bigtha and Abagtha, the Pressers of the
Winepress, for God had resolved to crush the court of Ahasuerus as one presses
the juice from grapes in a press; Zetha, Observer of Immorality; and Carcas, Knocker.
There was a particular reason why this interruption of the feast took place
on the Sabbath. Vashti was in the habit of forcing Jewish maidens to spin and
weave on the Sabbath day, and to add to her cruelty, she would deprive them of
all their clothes. It was on the Sabbath, therefore, that her punishment overtook
her, and for the same reason it was put into the king's heart to have her appear
in public stripped of all clothing.
Vashti recoiled from the king's revolting order. But it must not be supposed
that she shrank from carrying it out because it offended her moral sense. She
was not a whit better than her husband. She fairly revelled in the opportunity
his command gave her to indulge in carnal pleasures once again, for it was exactly
a week since she had been delivered of a child. But God sent the angel Gabriel
to her to disfigure her countenance. Suddenly signs of leprosy appeared on her
forehead, and the marks of other diseases on her person. In this state it was
impossible for her to show herself to the king. She made a virtue of necessity,
and worded her refusal to appear before him arrogantly: "Say to Ahasuerus: 'O
thou fool and madman! Hast thou lost thy reason by too much drinking? I am Vashti,
the daughter of Belshazzar, who was a son of Nebuchadnezzar, the Nebuchadnezzar
who scoffed at kings and unto whom princes were a derision, and even thou wouldst
not have been deemed worthy to run before my father's chariot as a courier. Had
he lived, I should never have been given unto thee for wife. Not even those who
suffered the death penalty during the reign of my forefather Nebuchadnezzar were
stripped bare of their clothing, and thou demandest that I appear naked in public!
Why, it is for thine own sake that I refuse to heed they order. Either the people
will decide that I do not come up to thy description of me, and will proclaim
thee a liar, or, bewitched by my beauty, they will kill thee in order to gain
possession of me, saying, Shall this fool be the master of so much beauty?'"
The first lady of the Persian aristocracy encouraged Vashti to adhere to her
resolution. "Better," her adviser said, when Ahasuerus's second summons was delivered
to Vashti, together with his threat to kill her unless she obeyed, "better the
king should kill thee and annihilate thy beauty, than that thy person should be
admired by other eyes than thy husband's, and thus thy name be disgraced, and
the name of thy ancestors."
When Vashti refused to obey the repeated command to appear before the king
and the hundred and twenty-seven crowned princes of the realm, Ahasuerus turned
to the Jewish sages, and requested them to pass sentence upon his queen. Their
thoughts ran in this wise: If we condemn the queen to death, we shall suffer for
it as soon as Ahasuerus becomes sober, and hears it was at our advice that she
was executed. But if we admonish him unto clemency now, while he is intoxicated,
he will accuse us of not paying due deference to the majesty of the king. They
therefore resolved upon neutrality. "Since the destruction of the Temple," they
said to the king, "since we have not dwelt in our land, we have lost the power
to give sage advice, particularly in matters of life and death. Better seek counsel
with the wise men of Ammon and Moab, who have ever dwelt at ease in their land,
like wine that hath settled on its lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel
to vessel.
Thereupon Ahasuerus put his charge against Vashti before the seven princes
of Persia, Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan,
who came from Africa, India, Edom, Tarsus, Mursa, Resen, and Jerusalem, respectively.
The names of these seven officials, each representing his country, were indicative
of their office. Carshena had the care of the animals, Shethar of the wine, Admatha
of the land, Tarshish of the palace, Meres of the poultry, Marsena of the bakery,
and Memucan provided for the needs of all in the palace, his wife acting as housekeeper.
This Memucan, a native of Jerusalem, was none other than Daniel, called Memucan,
"the appointed one," because he was designated by God to perform miracles and
bring about the death of Vashti.
When the king applied for advice to these seven nobles, Memucan was the first
to speak up, though in rank he was inferior to the other six, as appears from
the place his name occupies in the list. However, it is customary, as well among
Persians as among Jews, in passing death sentence, to begin taking the vote with
the youngest of the judges on the bench, to prevent the juniors and the less prominent
from being overawed by the opinion of the more influential.
It was Memucan's advice to the king to make an example of Vashti, so that in
future no woman should dare refuse obedience to her husband. Daniel-Memucan had
had unpleasant experiences in his conjugal life. He had married a wealthy Persian
lady, who insisted upon speaking to him in her own language exclusively. Besides,
personal antipathy existed between Daniel and Vashti. He had in a measure been
the cause of her refusal to appear before the king and his princes. Vashti hated
Daniel, because it was he who had prophesied his death to her father, and the
extinction of his dynasty. She could not endure his sight, wherefore she would
not show herself to the court in his presence. Also, it was Daniel who, by pronouncing
the Name of God, had caused the beauty of Vashti to vanish, and her face to be
marred. In consequence of all this, Daniel advised, not only that Vashti should
be cast off, but that she should be made harmless forever by the hangman's hand.
His advice was endorsed by his colleagues, and approved by the king. That the
king might not delay execution of the death sentence, and Daniel himself thus
incur danger to his own life, he made Ahasuerus swear the most solemn oath known
to the Persians, that it would be carried out forthwith. At the same time a royal
edict was promulgated, making it the duty of wives to obey their husbands. With
special reference to Daniel's domestic difficulties, it was specified that the
wife must speak the language of her lord and master.
The execution of Vashti brought most disastrous consequences in its train.
His whole empire, which is tantamount to saying the whole world, rose against
Ahasuerus. The widespread rebellion was put down only after his marriage with
Esther, but not before it had inflicted upon him the loss of one hundred and twenty-seven
provinces, the half of his kingdom. Such was his punishment for refusing permission
to rebuild the Temple. It was only after the fall of Haman, when Mordecai had
been made the chancellor of the empire, that Ahasuerus succeeded in reducing the
revolted provinces to submission.
The death of Vashti was not undeserved punishment, for it had been she who
had prevented the king from giving his consent to the rebuilding of the Temple.
"Wilt thou rebuild the Temple," said she, reproachfully, "which my ancestors destroyed?"
THE FOLLIES OF AHASUERUS
Ahasuerus is the prototype of the unstable, foolish ruler. He sacrificed his
wife Vashti to his friend Haman-Memucan, and later on again his friend Haman to
his wife Esther. Folly possessed him, too, when he arranged extravagant festivities
for guests from afar, before he had won, by means of kindly treatment, the friendship
of his surroundings, of the inhabitants of his capital. Ridiculous is the word
that describes his edict bidding wives obey their husbands. Every one who read
it exclaimed: "To be sure, a man is master in his own house!" However, the silly
decree served its purpose. It revealed his true character to the subjects of Ahasuerus,
and thenceforward they attached little importance to his edicts. This was the
reason why the decree of annihilation directed against the Jews failed of the
effect expected by Haman and Ahasuerus. The people regarded it as but another
of the king's foolish pranks, and therefore were ready to acquiesce in the revocation
of the edict when it came.
The king's true character appeared when he grew sober after the episode with
Vashti. Learning that he had had her executed, he burst out furiously against
his seven counsellors, and in turn ordered them to death.
Foolish, too, is the only word to describe the manner in which he set about
discovering the most beautiful woman in his dominion. King David on a similar
occasion wisely sent out messengers who were to bring to him the most beautiful
maiden in the land, and there was none who was not eager to enjoy the honor of
giving a daughter of his to the king. Ahasuerus's method was to have his servants
gather together a multitude of beautiful maidens and women from all parts, and
among them he proposed to make choice. The result of this system was that the
women concealed themselves to avoid being taken into the harem of the king, when
it was not certain that they would be found worthy of becoming his queen.
With his stupidity Ahasuerus combined wantonness. He ordered force to be used
in taking the maidens from their parents and the wives from their husbands, and
then he confined them in his harem. On the other hand, the moral sense of the
heathen was so degraded that many maidens displayed their charms to public view,
so that they might be sure to attract the admiring attention of the royal emissaries.
As for Esther, for four years Mordecai kept her concealed in a chamber, so
that the king's scouts could not discover her. But her beauty had long been known
to fame, and when they returned to Shushan, they had to confess to the king, that
the most superbly beautiful woman in the land eluded their search. Thereupon Ahasuerus
issued a decree ordaining the death penalty for the woman who should secrete herself
before his emissaries. There was nothing left for Mordecai to do but fetch Esther
from her hiding-place, and immediately she was espied and carried to the palace
of the king.
MORDECAI
The descent of Mordecai and of his niece Esther is disposed of in a few words
in the Scripture. But he could trace it all the way back to the Patriarch Jacob,
from whom he was forty-five degrees removed. Beside the father of Mordecai, the
only ancestor of his who is mentioned by name is Shimei, and he is mentioned for
a specific reason. This Shimei is none other then the notorious son of Gera, the
rebel who had so scoffed and mocked at David fleeing before Absalom that he would
have been killed by Abishai, if David had not generously interfered in his favor.
David's prophetic eye discerned in Shimei the ancestor of Israel's savior in the
time of Ahasuerus. For this reason he dealt leniently with him, and on his death-bed
he bade his son Solomon reserve vengeance until Shimei should have reached old
age and could beget no more children. Thus Mordecai deserves both appellations,
the Benjamite and the Judean, for he owed his existence not only to his actual
Benjamite forebears on his father's side, but also to the Judean David, who kept
his ancestor Shimei alive.
Shimei's distinction as the ancestor of Israel's redeemer was due to the merits
of his wife. When Jonathan and Ahimaaz, David's spies in his war against his son,
fled before the myrmidons of Absalom, they found the gate of Shimei's house open.
Entering, they concealed themselves in the well. That they escaped detection was
due to the ruse of Shimei's pious wife. She quickly transformed the well into
a lady's chamber. When Absalom's men came and looked about, they desisted from
searching the place, because they reasoned, that men as saintly as Jonathan and
Ahimaaz would not have taken refuge in the private apartment of a woman. God determined,
that for having rescued two pious men He would reward her with two pious descendants,
who should in turn avert the ruin of Israel.
On his mother's side, Mordecai was, in very deed, a member of the tribe of
Judah. In any event, he was a son of Judah in the true sense of the word; he publicly
acknowledged himself a Jew, and he refused to touch of the forbidden food which
Ahasuerus set before his guest at his banquet.
His other appellatives likewise point to his piety and his excellencies. His
name Mordecai, for instance, consists of Mor, meaning "myrrh," and Decai, "pure,"
for he was as refined and noble as pure myrrh. Again, he is called Ben Jair, because
he "illumined the eyes of Israel"; and Ben Kish, because when he knocked at the
gates of the Divine mercy, they were opened unto him, which is likewise the origin
of his name Ben Shimei, for he was heard by God when he offered up prayer. Still
another of Mordecai's epithets was Bilshan, "master of languages." Being a member
of the great Sanhedrin he understood all the seventy languages spoken in the world.
More than that, he knew the language of the deaf mutes. It once happened that
no new grain could be obtained at Passover time. A deaf mute came and pointed
with one hand to the roof and with the other to the cottage. Mordecai understood
that these signs meant a locality by the name of Gagot-Zerifim, Cottage-Roofs,
and, lo, new grain was found there for the 'Omer offering. On another occasion
a deaf mute pointed with one hand to his eye and with the other to the staple
of the bolt on the door. Mordecai understood that he meant a place called En-Soker,
"dry well," for eye and spring are the same word, En, in Aramaic, and Sikra also
has a double meaning, staple and exhaustion.
Mordecai belonged to the highest aristocracy of Jerusalem, he was of royal
blood, and he was deported to Babylonian together with King Jeconiah, by Nebuchadnezzar,
who at that time exiled only the great of the land. Later he returned to Palestine,
but remained only for a time. He preferred to live in the Diaspora, and watch
over the education of Esther. When Cyrus and Darius captured Babylon, Mordecai,
Daniel, and the Jewish community of the conquered city accompanied King Cyrus
to Shushan, where Mordecai established his academy.
ESTHER'S BEAUTY AND PIETY
The birth of Esther caused the death of her mother. Her father had died a little
while before, so she was entirely orphaned. Mordecai and his wife interested themselves
in the poor babe. His wife became her nurse, and he himself did not hesitate,
when there was need for it, to do services for the child that are usually performed
only by women.
Both her names, Esther as well as Hadassah, are descriptive of her virtues.
Hadassah, or Myrtle, she is called, because her good deeds spread her fame abroad,
as the sweet fragrance of the myrtle pervades the air in which it grows. In general,
the myrtle is symbolic of the pious, because, as the myrtle is ever green, summer
and winter alike, so the saints never suffer dishonor, either in this world or
in the world to come. In another way Esther resembled the myrtle, which, in spite
of its pleasant scent, has a bitter taste. Esther was pleasant to the Jews, but
bitterness itself to Haman and all who belonged to him.
The name Esther is equally significant. In Hebrew it means "she who conceals,"
a fitting name for the niece of Mordecai, the woman who well knew how to guard
a secret, and long hid her descent and faith from the king and the court. She
herself had been kept concealed for years in the house of her uncle, withdrawn
from the searching eyes of the king's spies. Above all she was the hidden light
that suddenly shone upon Israel in his rayless darkness.
In build, Esther was neither tall nor short, she was exactly of average height,
another reason for calling her Myrtle, a plant which likewise is neither large
nor small. In point of fact, Esther was not a beauty in the real sense of the
word. The beholder was bewitched by her grace and her charm, and that in spite
of her somewhat sallow, myrtle-like complexion. More than this, her enchanting
grace was not the grace of youth, for she was seventy-five years old when she
came to court, and captivated the hearts of all who saw her, from king to eunuch.
This was in fulfilment of the prophecy which God made to Abraham when he was leaving
the home of his father: "Thou art leaving the house of thy father at the age of
seventy-five. As thou livest, the deliverer of thy children in Media also shall
be seventy-five years old."
Another historical event pointed forward to Esther's achievement. When the
Jews, after the destruction of Jerusalem, broke out into the wail, "We are orphans
and fatherless," God said: "in very sooth, the redeemer whom I shall send unto
you in Media shall also be an orphan fatherless and motherless."
Ahasuerus put Esther between two groups of beauties, Median beauties to right
of her, and Persian beauties to left of her. Yet Esther's comeliness outshone
them all. Not even Joseph could vie with the Jewish queen in grace. Grace was
suspended above him, but Esther was fairly laden down with it. Whoever saw her,
pronounced her the ideal of beauty of his nation. The general exclamation was:
"This one is worthy of being queen." In vain Ahasuerus had sought a wife for four
years, in vain fathers had spent time and money bringing their daughters to him,
in the hope that one or the other would appeal to his fancy. None among the maidens,
none among the women, pleased Ahasuerus. But scarcely had he set eyes upon Esther
when he thrilled with the feeling, that he had at last found what he had long
yearned for.
All these years the portrait of Vashti had hung in his chamber. He had not
forgotten his rejected queen. But once he beheld Esther, Vashti's picture was
replaced by hers. Maiden grace and womanly charm were in her united.
The change in her worldly position wrought no change in Esther's ways and manners.
As she retained her beauty until old age, so the queen remained as pure in mind
and soul as ever the simple maiden had been. All the other women who entered the
gates of the royal palace made exaggerated demands, Esther's demeanor continued
modest and unassuming. The others insisted that the seven girl pages assigned
to them should have certain peculiar qualities, as, that they should not differ,
each from her mistress, in complexion and height. Esther uttered no wish whatsoever.
But her unpretending ways were far from pleasing to Hegai, chief of the eunuchs
of the harem. He feared lest the king discover that Esther did nothing to preserve
her beauty, and would put the blame for it upon him, an accusation that might
bring him to the gallows. To avoid such a fate, he loaded Esther down with resplendent
jewels, distinguishing her beyond all the other women gathered in the palace,
as Joseph, by means of costly gifts lavished upon him, had singled out her ancestor
Benjamin from among his brethren.
Hegai paid particular attention to what Esther ate. For her he brought dishes
from the royal table, which, however, she refused obstinately to ouch. Only such
things passed her lips as were permitted to Jews. She lived entirely on vegetable
food, as Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had aforetimes done at the court of Nebuchadnezzar.
The forbidden tidbits she passed over to the non-Jewish servants. Her personal
attendants were seven Jewish maidens as consistently pious as herself, whose devotion
to the ritual law Esther could depend upon.
Otherwise Esther was cut off from all intercourse with Jews, and she was in
danger of forgetting when the Sabbath bath came around. She therefore adopted
the device of giving her seven attendants peculiar names, to keep her in mind
of the passage of time. The first one was called Hulta, "Workaday," and she was
in attendance upon Esther on Sundays. On Mondays, she was served by Rok`ita, to
remind her of Rek`ia, "the Firmament," which was created on the second day of
the world. Tuesday's maid was called Genunita, "Garden," the third day of creation
having produced the world of plants. On Wednesday, she was reminded by Nehorita's
name, "the Luminous," that it was the day on which God had made the great luminaries,
to shed their light in the sky; on Thursday by Ruhshita, "Movement," for on the
fifth day the first animated beings were created; on Friday, the day on which
the beasts came into being, by Hurfita, "little Ewelamb"; and on the Sabbath her
bidding was done by Rego`ita, "Rest." Thus she was sure to remember the Sabbath
day week after week.
Mordecai's daily visits to the gate of the palace had a similar purpose. Thus
Esther was afforded the opportunity of obtaining instruction from him on all ritual
doubts that might assail her. This lively interest displayed by Mordecai in Esther's
physical and spiritual welfare is not wholly attributable to an uncle's and guardian's
solicitude in behalf of an orphaned niece. A much closer bond, the bond between
husband and wife, united them, for when Esther had grown to maidenhood, Mordecai
had espoused her. Naturally, Esther would have been ready to defend her conjugal
honor with her life. She would gladly have suffered death at the hands of the
king's bailiffs rather than yield herself to a man not her husband. Luckily, there
was no need for this sacrifice, for her marriage with Ahasuerus was but a feigned
union. God has sent down a female spirit in the guise of Esther to take her place
with the king. Esther herself never lived with Ahasuerus as his wife.
At the advice of her uncle, Esther kept her descent and her faith a secret.
Mordecai's injunction was dictated by several motives. First of all it was his
modesty that suggested secrecy. He thought the king, if he heard from Esther that
she had been raised by him, might offer to install him in some high office. In
point of fact, Mordecai was right in his conjecture; Ahasuerus had pledged himself
to make lords, princes, and kings of Esther's friends and kinspeople, if she would
but name them.
Another reason for keeping Esther's Jewish affiliations a secret was Mordecai's
apprehension, that the fate of Vashti overtake Esther, too. If such were in store
for her, he desired at least to guard against the Jews' becoming her fellowsuffers.
Besides, Mordecai knew only too well the inimical feelings entertained by the
heathen toward the Jews, ever since their exile from the Holy Land, and he feared
that the Jew-haters, to gratify their hostility against the Jews, might bring
about the ruin of Esther and her house.
Mindful of the perils to which Esther was exposed, Mordecai allowed no day
to pass without assuring himself of her well-being. His compensation therefore
came from God: "Thou makest the well-being of a single soul they intimate concern.
As thou livest, the well-being and good of thy whole nation Israel shall be entrusted
to thee as thy task." And to reward him for his modesty, God said: "Thou withdrawest
thyself from greatness; as thou livest, I will honor thee more than all men on
earth."
Vain were the efforts made by Ahasuerus to draw her secret from Esther. He
arranged great festivities for the purpose, but she guarded it well. She had an
answer ready for his most insistent questions: "I know neither my people nor my
family, for I lost my parents in my earliest infancy." But as the king desired
greatly to show himself gracious to the nation to which the queen belonged, he
released all the peoples under his dominion from the payment of taxes and imposts.
In this way, he thought, her nation was bound to be benefited.
When the king saw that kindness and generosity left her untouched, he sought
to wrest the secret from her by threats. Once when she parried his inquiries in
the customary way, saying, "I am an orphan, and God, the Father of the fatherless,
in His mercy, has brought me up," he retorted: I shall gather virgins together
the second time." His purpose was to provoke the jealousy of Esther, "for a woman
is jealous of nothing so much as a rival."
When Mordecai noticed that women were being brought to court anew, he was overcome
with anxiety for his niece. Thinking that the fate of Vashti might have befallen
her, he was impelled to make inquires about her.
As for Esther herself, she was but following the example of her race. She could
keep silent in all modesty, as Rachel, the mother of Benjamin, had kept a modest
silence when her father gave her sister Leah to Jacob for wife instead of herself,
and as Saul the Benjamite was modestly reserved when, questioned by his uncle,
he told about the finding of his she-asses, but nothing about his elevation to
the kingship. Rachel and Saul were recompensed for their self-abnegation by being
given a descendant like Esther.
THE CONSPIRACY
Once the following conversation took place between Ahasuerus and Esther. The
king asked Esther: "Whose daughter art thou?"
Esther: "And whose son art thou?"
Ahasuerus: "I am a king, and the son of a king."
Esther: "And I am a queen, the daughter of kings, a descendant of the royal
family of Saul. If thou art, indeed, a real prince, how couldst thou put Vashti
to death?"
Ahasuerus: "It was not to gratify my own wish, but at the advice of the great
princes of Persia and Media."
Esther: "Thy predecessors took no advice from ordinary intelligences; they
were guided by prophetical counsel. Arioch brought Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, and Belshazzar, too, summoned Daniel before him."
Ahasuerus: "Is there aught left of those toothsome morsels? Are there still
prophets abroad?
Esther: "Seek and thou wilt find."
The result was that Mordecai was given the position at court once occupied
by the chamberlains Bigthan and Teresh. Indignant that a place once filled by
senators should be given to a barbarian, the ousted officials resolved to be revenged
upon the king and take his life. Their purpose was to administer poison, which
seemed easy of accomplishment, as they were the royal butlers, and could find
many occasions to drop poison into a cup of water before handing it to the king.
The plan successfully carried out would have satisfied their vengeful feelings,
not only as to the king, but as to Mordecai as well. It would have made it appear
that the death of Ahasuerus was attributable to the circumstance, that he had
entrusted his person to the care of the Jew, as his life had been secure under
Bigthan and Teresh. They discussed their plans in the presence of Mordecai, acting
upon the unwarranted assumption, that he would not understand the language they
spoke, the Tarsian, their native tongue. They were ignorant of the fact, that
Mordecai was a member of the Sanhedrin, and as such knew all the seventy languages
of the world. Thus their own tongue betrayed them to ruin.
However, Mordecai had no need to make use of his great knowledge of languages;
he obtained his information about the plot of the two chamberlains through prophetical
channels. Accordingly, he appeared one night in the palace. By a miracle the guards
at the gates had not seen him, and he could enter unrestrained. Thus he overheard
the conversation between the two conspirators.
Mordecai had more than a single reason for preventing the death of Ahasuerus.
In the first place, he desired to secure the king's friendship for the Jews, and
more especially his permission for the rebuilding of the Temple. Then he feared,
if the king were murdered immediately after his rise to a high place in the state,
the heathen would assign as the cause of the disaster his connection with the
Jews his marriage with Esther and the appointment of Mordecai to office.
Esther's confidence in Mordecai's piety was so great that she unhesitatingly
gave credence to the message she received from him concerning the mischievous
plot hatched against the king. She believed that God would execute the wishes
of Mordecai. Albeit Bigthan and Teresh had no plans of the sort attributed to
them by her uncle, they would conceive then now in order to make Mordecai's words
true. That Esther's confidence was justified appeared at once. The conspirators
got wind of their betrayal to the king, and in good time they removed the poison
they had already placed in Ahasuerus's cup. But that the lie might not be given
to Mordecai, God caused poison to appear where none had been, and the conspirators
were convicted of their crime. The king had the water analyzed which he was given
to drink, and it was made manifest that it contained poison. Other evidence besides
existed against the two plotters. It was established that both had at the same
time busied themselves about the person of the king, though the regulations of
the palace assigned definite hours of service to the one different from those
assigned to the other. This made it clear that they intended to perpetrate a dark
deed in common.
The two conspirators sought to escape the legitimate punishment for their dastardly
deed by ending their own life. But their intention was frustrated, and they were
nailed to the cross.
HAMAN THE JEW-BAITER
The conspiracy of Bigthan and Teresh determined the king never again to have
two chamberlains guard his person. Henceforward he would entrust his safety to
a single individual, and he appointed Haman to the place. This was an act of ingratitude
toward Mordecai, who, as the king's savior, had the most cogent claims upon the
post. But Haman possessed one important advantage, he was the owner of great wealth.
With the exception of Korah he was the richest man that had ever lived, for he
had appropriated to himself the treasures of the Judean kings and of the Temple.
Ahasuerus had an additional reason for distinguishing Haman. He was well aware
of Mordecai's ardent desire to see the Temple restored, and he instinctively felt
he could not deny the wish of the man who had snatched him from untimely death.
Yet he was not prepared to grant it. To escape from the dilemma he endeavored
to make Haman act as a counterpoise against Mordecai, that "what the one built
up, the other might pull down."
Ahasuerus had long been acquainted with Haman's feeling against the Jews. When
the quarrel about the rebuilding of the Temple broke out between the Jews and
their heathen adversaries, and the sons of Haman denounced the Jews before Ahasuerus,
the two parties at odds agreed to send each a representative to the king, to advocate
his case. Mordecai was appointed the Jewish delegate, and no more rabid Jew-hater
could be found than Haman, to plead the cause of the antagonists of the Temple
builders.
As for his character, that, too, King Ahasuerus had had occasion to see in
its true light, because Haman is but another name for Memucan, the prince who
is chargeable in the last resort with the death of Vashti. At the time of the
king's wrath against the queen, Memucan was still lowest in the rank among the
seven princes of Persia, yet, arrogant as he was, he was the first to speak up
when the king put his question about the punishment due to Vashti an illustration
of the popular adage: "The common man rushes to the front." Haman's hostility
toward Vashti dated from her banquet, to which the queen had failed to bid his
wife as guest. Moreover, she had once insulted him by striking him a blow in the
face. Besides, Haman calculated, if only Vashti's repudiation could be brought
about, he might succeed in marrying his own daughter to the king. He was not the
only disappointed man at court. In part the conspiracy of Bigthan and Teresh was
a measure of revenge against Ahasuerus for having made choice of Esther instead
of a kinswoman of theirs.
Esther once married to the king, however, Haman made the best of a bad bargain.
He tried by every means in his power to win the friendship of the queen. Whether
she was Jewess or heathen, he desired to claim kinship with her as a Jewess through
the fraternal bond between Esau and Jacob, as a heathen easily enough, "for all
the heathen area akin to one another."
MORDECAI'S PRIDE
When Ahasuerus raised Haman to his high office, he at the same time issued
the order, that all who saw him were to prostrate themselves before him and pay
him Divine honors. To make it manifest that the homage due to him had an idolatrous
character, Haman had the image of an idol fastened to his clothes, so that whoever
bowed down before him, worshipped an idol at the same time. Mordecai alone of
all at court refused to obey the royal order. The highest officials, even the
most exalted judges, showed Haman the reverence bidden by the king. The Jews themselves
entreated Mordecai not to call forth the fury of Haman, and cause the ruin of
Israel thereby. Mordecai, however, remained steadfast; no persuasions could move
him to pay to a mortal the tribute due to Divinity.
Also the servants of the king who sat at the gate of the royal palace said
to Mordecai: "Wherein art thou better than we, that we should pay reverence to
Haman and prostrate ourselves, and thou doest naught of all commanded us in the
matter?" Mordecai answered, saying "O ye fools without understanding! Hear ye
my words and make meet reply thereunto. Who is man that he should act proudly
and arrogantly man born of woman and few in days? At his birth there is weeping
and travailing, in his youth pain and groans, all his days are 'full of trouble,'
and in the end he returns unto dust. Before such an one I should prostrate myself?
I bend the knee before God alone, the only living One in heaven, He who is the
fire consuming all other fires; who holds the earth in His arms; who stretches
out the heavens in His might; who darkens the sun when it pleases Him, and illumines
the darkness; who commanded the sand to set bounds unto the seas; who made the
waters of the sea salt, and caused its waves to spread an aroma as of wine; who
chained the sea as with manacles, and held it fast in the depths of the abyss
that it might not overflow the land; it rages, yet it cannot pass its limits.
With His word He created the firmament, which He stretched out like a cloud in
the air; He cast it over the world like a dark vault, like a tent it is spread
over the earth. In His strength He upholds all there is above and below. The sun,
the moon, and the Pleiades run before Him, the stars and the planets are not idle
for a single moment; they rest not, they speed before Him as His messengers, going
to the right and to the left, to do the will of Him who created them. To Him praise
is due, before Him we must prostrate ourselves."
The court officials spake and said: "Yet we know well that thy ancestor Jacob
prostrated himself before Haman's ancestor Esau!"
Whereunto Mordecai made reply: "I am a descendant of Benjamin, who was not
yet born when his father Jacob and his brothers cast themselves upon the earth
before Esau. My ancestor never showed such honor to a mortal. Therefore was Benjamin's
allotment of land in Palestine privileged to contain the Temple. The spot whereon
Israel and all the peoples of the earth prostrated themselves before God belonged
to him who had never prostrated himself before mortal man. Therefore I will not
bend my knee before this sinner Haman, nor cast myself to earth before him."
Haman at first tried to propitiate Mordecai by a show of modesty. As though
he had not noticed the behavior of Mordecai, he approached him, and saluted him
with the words: "Peace be with thee, my lord!" But Mordecai bluntly replied: "There
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
The hatred of Mordecai cherished by Haman was due to more than the hereditary
enmity between the descendants of Saul and Agag. Not even Mordecai's public refusal
to pay the homage due to Haman suffices to explain its virulence. Mordecai was
aware of a certain incident in the past of Haman. If he had divulged it, the betrayal
would have been most painful to the latter. This accounts for the intensity of
his feeling.
It once happened that a city in India rebelled against Ahasuerus. In great
haste troops were dispatched thither under the command of Mordecai and Haman.
It was estimated that the campaign would require three years, and all preparations
were made accordingly. By the end of the first year Haman had squandered the provisions
laid in to supply the part of the army commanded by him, for the whole term of
the campaign. Greatly embarrassed, he requested Mordecai to give him aid. Mordecai,
however, refused him succor; they both had been granted the same amount of provisions
for an equal number of men. Haman then offered to borrow from Mordecai and pay
him interest. This, too, Mordecai refused to do, and for two reasons. If Mordecai
had supplied Haman's men with provisions, his own would have to suffer, and as
for interest, the law prohibits it, saying "Unto thy brother thou shalt not lend
upon usury," and Jacob and Esau, the respective ancestors of Mordecai and Haman,
had been brothers.
When starvation stared them in the face, the troops commanded by Haman threatened
him with death unless he gave them their rations. Haman again resorted to Mordecai,
and promised to pay him as much as ten per cent interest. The Jewish general continued
to refuse the offer. But he professed himself willing to help him out of his embarrassment
on one condition, that Haman sell himself to Mordecai as his slave. Driven into
a corner, he acquiesced, and the contract was written upon Mordecai's knee-cap,
because there was no paper to be found in the camp.
The bill of sale ran thus: "I, Haman, the son of Hammedatha of the family of
Agag, was sent out by King Ahasuerus to make war upon an Indian city, with an
army of sixty thousand soldiers, furnished with the necessary provisions. Precisely
the same commission was given by the king to Mordecai, the son of Shimei of the
tribe of Benjamin. But I squandered the provisions entrusted to me by the king,
so that I had no rations to give to my troops. I desired to borrow from Mordecai
on interest, but, having regard to the fact that Jacob and Esau were brothers,
he refused to lend me upon usury, and I was forced to sell myself as slave to
him. If, now, I should at any time decline to serve him as a slave, or deny that
I am his slave, or if my children and children's children unto the end of all
time should refuse to do him service, if only a single day of the week; or if
I should act inimically toward him on account of this contract, as Esau did toward
Jacob after selling him his birthright; in all these cases, a beam of wood is
to be plucked out of the house of the recalcitrant, and he is to be hanged upon
it. I, Haman, the son of Hammedatha of the family of Agag, being under no restraint,
do hereby consent with my own will, and bind myself to be slave in perpetuity
to Mordecai, in accordance with the contents of this document."
Later, when Haman attained to high rank in the state, Mordecai, whenever he
met him, was in the habit of stretching out his knee toward him, so that he might
see the bill of sale. This so enraged him against Mordecai and against the Jews
that he resolved to extirpate the Jewish people.
CASTING THE LOTS
Haman's hatred, first directed against Mordecai alone, grew apace until it
included Mordecai's colleagues, all the scholars, whom he sought to destroy, and
not satisfied with even this, he plotted the annihilation of the whole of Mordecai's
people, the Jews.
Before beginning to lay out his plans, he desired to determine the most favorable
moment for his undertaking, which he did by casting lots.
First of all he wanted to decide on the day of the week. The scribe Shimshai
began to cast lots. Sunday appeared inappropriate, being the day on which God
created heaven and earth, whose continuance depends on Israel's existence. Were
it not for God's covenant with Israel, there would be neither day nor night, neither
heaven nor earth. Monday showed itself equally unpropitious for Haman's devices,
for it was the day on which God effected the separation between the celestial
and the terrestrial waters, symbolic of the separation between Israel and the
heathen. Tuesday, the day on which the vegetable world was created, refused to
give its aid in bringing about the ruin of Israel, who worships God with branches
of palm trees. Wednesday, too, protested against the annihilation of Israel, saying:
"On me the celestial luminaries were created, and like unto them Israel is appointed
to illumine the whole world. First destroy me, and then Thou mayest destroy Israel."
Thursday said: "O Lord, on me the birds were created, which are used for sin offerings.
When Israel shall be no more, who will bring offerings? First destroy me, and
then Thou mayest destroy Israel." Friday was unfavorable to Haman's lots, because
it was the day of the creation of man, and the Lord God said to Israel, "Ye are
men." Least of all was the Sabbath day inclined to make itself subservient to
Haman's wicked plans. It said: "The Sabbath is a sign between Israel and God.
First destroy me, and then Thou mayest destroy Israel!"
Baffled, Haman gave up all idea of settling upon a favorable day of the week.
He applied himself to the task of searching out the suitable month for his sinister
undertaking. As it appeared to him, Adar was the only one of the twelve owning
naught that might be interpreted in favor of the Jews. The rest of them seemed
to be enlisted on their side. In Nisan Israel was redeemed from Egypt; in Iyar
Amlek was overcome; In Siwan the Ethiopian Zerah was smitten in the war with Asa;
in Tammuz the Amorite kings were subjugated; in Ab the Jews won a victory over
Arad, the Canaanite; in Tishri the Jewish kingdom was firmly established by the
dedication of Solomon's Temple, while in Heshwan the building of the Temple at
Jerusalem was completed; Kislew and Tebet were the months during which Sihon and
Og were conquered by the Israelites, and in Shebat occurred the sanguinary campaign
of the eleven tribes against the godless children of Benjamin. Not alone was Adar
a month without favorable significance in Jewish history, but actually a month
of misfortune, the month in which Moses died. What Haman did not know was, that
Adar was the month in which occurred also the birth of Moses.
Then Haman investigated the twelve signs of the zodiac in relation to Israel,
and again it appeared that Adar was the most unfavorable month for the Jews. The
first constellation, the Ram, said to Haman, "'Israel is a scattered sheep,' and
how canst thou expect a father to offer his son for slaughter?"
The Bull said: "Israel's ancestor was 'the firstling bullock.'"
The Twins: "As we are twins, so Tamar bore twins to Judah."
The Crab: "As I am called Saratan, the scratcher, so it is said of Israel,
'All that oppress him, he shall scratch sorely.'"
The Lion: "God is called the lion, and is it likely the lion will permit the
fox to bite his children?"
The Virgin: "As I am a virgin, so Israel is compared unto a virgin."
The Balance: "Israel obeys the law against unjust balances in the Torah, and
must therefore be protected by the Balance."
The Scorpion: "Israel is like unto me, for he, too, is called scorpion."
The Archer: "The sons of Judah are masters of the bow, and the bows of mighty
men directed against them will be broken."
The Goat: "It was a goat that brought blessing unto Jacob, the ancestor of
Israel, and it stands to reason that the blessing of the ancestor cannot cause
misfortune to the descendant."
The Water-bearer: "His dominion is likened unto a bucket, and therefore the
Water-bearer cannot but bring him good."
The Fishes were the only constellation which, at least according to Haman's
interpretation, made unfavorable prognostications as to the fate of the Jews.
It said that the Jews would be swallowed like fishes. God however spake: "O thou
villain! Fishes are sometimes swallowed, but sometimes they swallow, and thou
shalt be swallowed by the swallowers." And when Haman began to cast lots, God
said: "O thou villain, son of a villain! What thy lots have shown thee is thine
own lot, that thou wilt be hanged."
THE DENUNCIATION OF THE JEWS
His resolve to ruin the Jews taken, Haman appeared before Ahasuerus with his
accusation against them. "There is a certain people," he said, "the Jews, scattered
abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of the kingdom. They
are proud and presumptuous. In Tebet, in the depth of winter, they bathe in warm
water, and they sit in cold water in summer. Their religion is diverse from the
religion of every other people, and their laws from the laws of every other land.
To our laws they pay no heed, our religion finds no favor with them, and the decrees
of the king they do not execute. When their eye falls upon us, they spit out before
us, and they consider us as unclean vessels. When we levy them for the king's
service, they either jump upon the wall, and hide within the chambers, or they
break through the walls and escape. If we hasten to arrest them, they turn upon
us, glare at us with their eyes, grind their teeth, stamp their feet, and so intimidate
us that we cannot hold them fast. They do not give us their daughters unto wives,
nor do they take our daughters unto wives. If one of them has to do the king's
service, he idles all the day long. If they want to buy aught of us, they say,
'This is a day for doing business.' But if we want to buy aught of them, they
say, 'We may do no business to-day,' and thus we can buy nothing from them on
their market-days.
"Their time they pass in this wise: The first hour of the day, they say, they
need for reciting the Shema; the second for praying; the third for eating; the
fourth for saying grace, to give thanks to God for the food and drink He has granted
them; the fifth hour they devote to their business affairs; in the sixth they
already feel the need of rest; in the seventh their wives call for them, saying,
'come home, ye weary ones, who are so exhausted by the king's service!'
"The seventh day they celebrate as their Sabbath; they go to the synagogues
on that day, read out of their books, translate pieces from their Prophets, curse
our king, and execrate our government, saying: 'This is the day whereon the great
God rested; so may He grant us rest from the heathen.'
"The women pollute the waters with their ritual baths, which they take after
the seven days of their defilement. On the eighth day after the birth of sons,
they circumcise them mercilessly, saying, 'This shall distinguish us from all
other nations.' At the end of thirty days, and sometimes twenty-nine, they celebrate
the beginning of the month. In the month of Nisan they observe eight days of Passover,
beginning the celebration by kindling a fire of brushwood to burn up the leaven.
They put all the leaven in their homes out of sight before they use the unleavened
bread, saying, 'This is the day whereon our fathers were redeemed from Egypt.'
Such is the festival they call Pesah. They go to their synagogues, read out of
their books, and translate from the writings of the Prophets, saying: 'As the
leaven has been removed out of our houses, so may this wicked dominion be removed
from over us.'
"Again, in Siwan, they celebrate two days, on which they go to their synagogues,
recite the Shema, and offer up prayers, read out of the Torah, and translate from
the books of their Prophets, curse our king, and execrate our government. This
is the holiday which they call Azarta, the closing festival. They ascend to the
roofs of their synagogues, and throw down apples, which are picked up by those
below, with the words, 'As these apples are gathered up, so may we be gathered
together from our dispersion among the heathen.' They say they observe this festival,
because on these days the Torah was revealed to their ancestors on Mount Sinai.
"On the first of Tishri they celebrate the New Year again they go to their
synagogues, read out of their books, translate pieces from the writings of their
Prophets, curse our king, execrate our government, and blow the trumpets, saying:
'On this Day of Memorial may we be remembered unto good, and our enemies unto
evil.'
"On the ninth day of the same month they slaughter cattle, geese, and poultry,
they eat and drink and indulge in dainties, they and their wives, their sons and
their daughters. But the tenth day of the same month they call the Great Fast,
and all of them fast, they together with their wives, their sons, and their daughters,
yea, they even torture their little children without mercy, forcing them to abstain
from food. They say: 'On this day our sins are pardoned, and are added to the
sum of the sins committed by our enemies.' They go to their synagogues, read from
their books, translate from the writings of their Prophets, curse our king, and
execrate our government, saying: 'May this empire be wiped off from the face of
the earth like unto our sins.' They supplicate and pray that the king may die,
and his rule be made to cease.
"On the fifteenth of the same month they celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
They cover the roofs of their houses with foliage, they resort to our parks, where
they cut down palm branches for their festal wreaths, pluck the fruit of the Etrog,
and cause havoc among the willows of the brook, by breaking down the hedges in
their quest after Hosha'not, saying: 'As does the king in the triumphal procession,
so do we.' Then they repair to their synagogues to pray, and read out of their
books, and make circuits with their Hosha'not, all the while jumping and skipping
like goats, so that there is no telling whether they curse us or bless us. This
is Sukkot, as they call it, and while it lasts, they do none of the king's service,
for, they maintain, all work is forbidden them on these days.
"In this way they waste the whole year with tomfoolery and fiddle-faddle, only
in order to avoid doing the king's service. At the expiration of every period
of fifty years they have a jubilee year, and every seventh year is a year of release,
during which the land lies fallow, for they neither sow nor reap therein, and
sell us neither fruits nor other products of the field, so that those of us who
live among them die of hunger. At the end of every period of twelve months, they
observe the New Year, at the end of every thirty days the New Moon, and every
seventh day is the Sabbath, the day on which, as they say, the Lord of the world
rested."
After Haman had finished his arraignment of the Jews, God said: "Thou didst
well enumerate the holidays of the Jews, yet thou didst omit the two Purim and
Shushan-Purim which the Jews will celebrate to commemorate thy fall."
Clever though Haman's charge was, the vindication of the Jews was no whit less
clever. For they found a defender in the archangel Michael. While Haman was delivering
his indictment, he spoke thus to God: "O Lord of the world! Thou knowest well
that the Jews are not accused of idolatry, nor of immoral conduct, nor of shedding
blood; they are accused only of observing Thy Torah." God pacified him: "As thou
livest, I have not abandoned them, I will not abandon them."
Haman's denunciations of the Jewish people found a ready echo in the heart
of the king. He replied: "I, too, desire the annihilation of the Jews, but I fear
their God, for He is mighty beyond compare, and He loves His people with a great
love. Whoever rises up against them, He crushes under their feet. Just think of
Pharaoh! Should his example not be a warning to us? He ruled the whole world,
yet, because he oppressed the Jews, he was visited with frightful plagues. God
delivered them from the Egyptians, and cleft the sea for them, a miracle never
done for any other nation, and when Pharaoh pursued them with an army of six hundred
thousand warriors, he and his host together were drowned in the sea. Thy ancestor
Amalek, O Haman, attacked them with four hundred thousand heroes, and all of them
God delivered into the hands of Joshua, who slew them. Sisera had forty thousand
generals under him, each one commander of a hundred thousand men, yet they all
were annihilated. The God of the Jews ordered the stars to consume the warriors
of Sisera, and then He caused the great general to fall into the power of a woman,
to become a by-word and a reproach forever. Many and valorous rulers have risen
up against them, they all were cast down by their God and crushed unto their everlasting
disgrace. Now, then, can we venture aught against them?"
Haman, however, persisted. Day after day he urged the king to consent to his
plan. Ahasuerus thereupon called together a council of the wise men of all nations
and tongues. To them he submitted the question, whether the Jews ought not to
be destroyed, seeing they differed from all other peoples. The sage councillors
inquired: "Who is it that desires to induce thee to take so fatal a step? If the
Jewish nation is destroyed, the world itself will cease to be, for the world exists
only for the sake of the Torah studied by Israel. Yea, the very sun and moon shed
their light only for the sake of Israel, and were it not for him, there were neither
day nor night, and neither dew nor rain would moisten the earth. More than this,
all other nations beside Israel are designated as 'strangers' by God, but Israel
He called in His love 'a people near to Him,' and His 'children.' If men do not
suffer their children and kinsmen to be attacked with impunity, how much less
will God sit by quiet when Israel is assailed God the Ruler over all things, over
the powers in heaven above and on earth beneath, over the spirits and the souls
God with whom it lies to exalt and to degrade, to slay and to revive."
Haman was ready with a reply to these words of the wise: "The God who drowned
Pharaoh in the sea, and who did all the wonders and signs ye have recounted, that
God is now in His dotage, He can neither see nor protect. For did not Nebuchadnezzar
destroy His house, burn His palace, and scatter His people to all corners of the
earth, and He was not able to do one thing against it? If He had had power and
strength, would he not have displayed them? This is the best proof that He was
waxed old and feeble."
When the heathen sages heard these arguments advance by Haman, they agreed
to his plan, and put their signature to an edict decreeing the persecution of
the Jews.
THE DECREE OF ANNIHILATION
This is the text of the decree which Haman issued to the heads of all the nations
regarding the annihilation of the Jews: "This herein is written by me, the great
officer of the king, his second in rank, the first among the grandees, and one
of the seven princes, and the most distinguished among the nobles of the realm.
I, in agreement with the rulers of the provinces, the princes of the king, the
chiefs and the lords, the Eastern kings and the satraps, all being of the same
language, write you at the order of King Ahasuerus this writing sealed with his
signet, so that it may not be sent back, concerning the great eagle Israel. The
great eagle had stretched out his pinions over the whole world; neither bird nor
beast could withstand him. But there came the great lion Nebuchadnezzar, and dealt
the great eagle a stinging blow. His pinions snapped, his feathers were plucked
out, and his feet were hacked off. The whole world has enjoyed rest, cheer, and
tranquillity since the moment the eagle was chased from his eyrie until this day.
Now we notice that he is using all efforts to secure wings. He is permitting his
feathers to grow, with the intention of covering us and the whole world, as he
did unto our forefathers. At the instance of King Ahasuerus, all the magnates
of the king of Media and Persia are assembled, and we are writing you our joint
advice, as follows: 'Set snares for the eagle, and capture him before he renews
his strength, and soars back to his eyrie.' We advise you to tear out his plumage,
break his wings, give his flesh to the fowl of heaven, split the eggs lying in
his nest, and crush his young, so that his memorial may vanish from the world.
Our counsel is not like unto Pharaoh's; he sought to destroy only the men of Israel;
to the women he did no harm. It is not like unto the plan of Esau, who wanted
to slay his brother Jacob and keep his children as slaves. It is not like unto
the tactics of Amalek, who pursued Israel and smote the hindmost and feeble, but
left the strong unscathed. It is not like unto the policy of Nebuchadnezzar, who
carried them away into exile, and settled them near his own throne. And it is
not like unto the way of Sennacherib, who assigned a land unto the Jews as fair
as their own had been. We, recognizing clearly what the situation is, have resolved
to slay the Jews, annihilate them, young and old, so that their name and their
memorial may be no more, and their posterity may be cut off forever."
The edict issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews ran thus: "To all the peoples,
nations, and races: Peace be with you! This is to acquaint you that one came to
us who is not of our nation and of our land, an Amalekite, the son of great ancestors,
and his name is Haman. He made a trifling request of me, saying: 'Among us there
dwells a people, the most despicable of all, who are a stumbling-block in every
time. They are exceeding presumptuous, and they know our weakness and our shortcomings.
They curse the king in these words, which are constantly in their mouths: "God
is the King of the world forever and ever: He will make the heathen to perish
out of His land: He will execute vengeance and punishments upon the peoples."
From the beginning of all time they have been ungrateful, as witness their behavior
toward Pharaoh. With kindness he received them, their wives, and their children,
at the time of a famine. He gave up to them the best of his land. He provided
them with food and all they needed. Then Pharaoh desired to build a palace, and
he requested the Jews to do it for him. They began the work grudgingly, amid murmurings,
and it is not completed unto this day. In the midst of it, they approached Pharaoh
with these words: "We wish to offer sacrifices to our God in a place that is a
three days' journey from here, and we petition thee to lend us silver and gold
vessels, and clothes, and apparel." So much did they borrow, that each one bore
ninety ass-loads off with him, and Egypt was emptied out. When, the three days
having elapsed, they did not return, Pharaoh pursued them in order to recover
the stolen treasures. What did the Jews? They had among them a man by the name
of Moses, the son of Amram, an arch-wizard, who had been bred in the house of
Pharaoh. When they reached the sea, this man raised his staff, and cleft the waters,
and led the Jews through them dryshod, while Pharaoh and his host were drowned.
"'Their God helps them as long as they observe His law, so that none can prevail
against them. Balaam, the only prophet we heathens ever had, they slew with the
sword, as they did unto Sihon and Og, the powerful kings of Canaan, whose land
they took after killing them. Likewise they brought ruin upon Amalek, the great
and glorious ruler they, and Saul their king, and Samuel their prophet. Later
they had an unmerciful king, David by name, who smote the Philistines, the Ammonites,
and the Moabites, and not one of them could discomfit him. Solomon, the son of
this king, being wise and sagacious, built them a house of worship in Jerusalem,
that they might not scatter to all parts of the world. But after they had been
guilty of many crimes against their God, He delivered them into the hand of King
Nebuchadnezzar, who deported them to Babylonia.
"'To this day they are among us, and though they are under our hand, we are
of none account in their eyes. Their religion and their laws are different from
the religion and he laws of all the other nations. Their sons do not marry with
our daughters, our gods they do not worship, they have no regard for our honor,
and they refuse to bend the knee before us. Calling themselves freemen, they will
not do our service, and our commands they heed not.'
"Therefore the grandees, the princes, and the satraps have been assembled before
us, we have taken counsel together, and we have resolved an irrevocable resolution,
according to the laws of the Medes and Persians, to extirpate the Jews from among
the inhabitants of the earth. We have sent the edict to the hundred and twenty-seven
provinces of my empire, to slay them, their sons, their wives, and their little
children, on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar none is to escape. As they
did to our forefathers, and desired to do unto us, so shall be done unto them,
and their possessions are to be given over to the spoilers. Thus shall ye do,
that ye may find grace before me. This is the writing of the letter which I send
to you, Ahasuerus king of Media and Persia."
The price Haman offered the king for the Jews was ten thousand hundredweights
of silver. He took the number of the Jews at their exodus from Egypt, six hundred
thousand, as the basis of his calculation, and offered a half-shekel for every
soul of them, the sum each Israelite had to pay yearly for the maintenance of
the sanctuary. Though the sum was so vast that Haman could not find coin enough
to pay it, but promised to deliver it in the form of silver bars, Ahasuerus refused
the ransom. When Haman made the offer, he said: "Let us cast lots. If thou drawest
Israel and I draw money, then the sale stands as a valid transaction. If the reverse,
it is not valid." Because of the sins of the Jews, the sale was confirmed by the
lots. But Haman was not too greatly pleased with his own success. He disliked
to give up so large a sum of money. Observing his ill humor, Ahasuerus said: "Keep
the money; I do not care either to make or to lose money on account of the Jews."
For the Jews it was fortunate that the king did not accept money for them,
else his subjects would not have obeyed his second edict, the one favorable to
the Jews. They would have been able to advance the argument, that the king, by
accepting a sum of money for them, had resigned his rights over the Jews in favor
of Haman, who, therefore, could deal with them as he pleased.
The agreement between Ahasuerus and Haman was concluded at a carouse, by way
of punishment for the crime of the sons of Jacob, who had unmercifully sold their
brother Joseph into slavery to the Ishmaelites while eating and drinking.
The joy of this Jew-hating couple for Ahasuerus hated the Jews with no less
fierce a hatred than Haman did was shared by none. The capital city of Shushan
was in mourning and sorely perplexed. Scarcely had the edict of annihilation been
promulgated against the Jews, when all sorts of misfortunes began to happen in
the city. Women who were hanging up their wash to dry on the roofs of the houses
dropped dead; men who went to draw water fell into the wells, and lost their lives.
While Ahasuerus and Haman were making merry in the palace, the city was thrown
into consternation and mourning.
SATAN INDICTS THE JEWS
The position of the Jews after the royal edict became known beggars description.
If a Jew ventured abroad on the street to make a purchase, he was almost throttled
by the Persians, who taunted him with these words: "Never mind, to-morrow will
soon be here, and then I shall kill thee, and take thy money away from thee."
If a Jew offered to sell himself as a slave, he was rejected; not even the sacrifice
of his liberty could protect him against the loss of his life.
Mordecai, however, did not despair; he trusted in the Divine help. On his way
from the court, after Haman and his ilk had informed him with malicious joy of
the king's pleasure concerning the Jews, he met Jewish children coming from school.
He asked the first child what verse from the Scriptures he had studied in school
that day, and the reply was: "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation
of the wicked when it cometh." The verse committed to memory by the second was:
"Let them take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; let them speak
the word, but it shall not stand; for God is with us." And the verse which the
third had learnt was: "And even to old age I am He, and even to hoar hairs I will
carry you: I have made and will bear; yea, I will carry and will deliver."
When Mordecai heard these verses, he broke out into jubilation, astonishing
Haman not a little. Mordecai told him, "I rejoice at the good tidings announced
to me by the school children." Haman thereupon fell into such a rage that he exclaimed:
"In sooth, they shall be the first to feel the weight of my hand."
What gave Mordecai the greatest concern, was the certainty that the danger
had been invited by the Jews themselves, through their sinful conduct in connection
with the banquets given by Ahasuerus. Eighteen thousand five hundred Jews had
taken part in them; they had eaten and drunk, intoxicated themselves and committed
immoralities, as Haman had foreseen, the very reason, indeed, he had advised the
king to hold the banquets.
Thereupon Satan had indicted the Jews. The accusations which he produced against
them were of such a nature that God at once ordered writing materials to be brought
to Him for the decree of annihilation, and it was written and sealed.
When the Torah heard that Satan's designs against the Jews had succeeded, she
broke out into bitter weeping before God, and her lamentations awakened the angels,
who likewise began to wail, saying: "If Israel is to be destroyed, of what avail
is the whole world?"
The sun and the moon heard the lamentations of the angels, and they donned
their mourning garb and also wept bitterly and wailed, saying: "Is Israel to be
destroyed, Israel who wanders from town to town, and from land to land, only for
the sake of the study of the Torah; who suffers grievously under the hand of the
heathen, only because he observes the Torah and the sign of the covenant?"
In great haste the prophet Elijah ran to the Patriarchs and to the other prophets,
and to the saints in Israel, and addressed these words to them: "O ye fathers
of the world! Angels, and the sun and the moon, and heaven and earth, and all
the celestial hosts are weeping bitterly. The whole world is seized with throes
as of a woman in travail, by reason of your children, who have forfeited their
life on account of their sins, and ye sit quiet and tranquil." Thereupon Moses
said to Elijah: "Knowest thou any saints in the present generation of Israel?"
Elijah named Mordecai, and Moses sent the prophet to him, with the charge that
he, the "saint of the living generation," should unite his prayers with the prayers
of the saints among the dead, and perhaps the doom might be averted from Israel.
But Elijah hesitated. "O faithful shepherd," he said, "the edict of annihilation
issued by God is written and sealed." Moses, however, did not desist; he urged
the Patriarchs: "If the edict is sealed with wax, your prayers will be heard;
if with blood, then all is vain."
Elijah hastened to Mordecai, who, when first he heard what God had resolved
upon, tore his garments and was possessed by a great fear, though before he had
confidently hoped that help would come form God. He gathered together all the
school children, and had them fast, so that their hunger should drive them to
moan and groan. Then it was that Israel spoke to God: "O Lord of the world! When
the heathen rage against me, they do not desire my silver and gold, they desire
only that I should be exterminated from off the face of the earth. Such was the
design of Nebuchadnezzar when he wanted to compel Israel to worship the idol.
Had it not been for Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, I had disappeared from the
world. Now it is Haman who desires to uproot the whole vine."
Then Mordecai addressed all the people thus: "O people of Israel, that art
so dear and precious in the sight of thy Heavenly Father! Knowest thou not what
has happened? Hast thou not heard that the king and Haman have resolved to remove
us off the face of the earth, to destroy us from beneath the sun? We have no king
on whom we can depend, and no prophet to intercede for us with prayers. There
is no place whither we can flee, no land wherein we can find safety. We are like
sheep without a shepherd, like a ship upon the sea without a pilot. We are like
an orphan born after the death of his father, and death robs him of his mother,
too, when he has scarce begun to draw nourishment from her breast."
After this address a great prayer-meeting was called outside of Shushan. The
Ark containing the scroll of the law, covered with sackcloth and strewn with ashes,
was brought thither. The scroll was unrolled, and the following verses read from
it: "When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, in
the latter days thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and hearken unto His voice,
for the Lord thy God is a merciful God: He will not fail thee, neither destroy
thee, nor forget the covenant of they fathers which He swore unto them."
Thereunto Mordecai added words of admonition: "O people of Israel, thou art
dear and precious to thy Father in heaven, let us follow the example of the inhabitants
of Nineveh, doing as they did when the prophet Jonah came to them to announce
the destruction of the city. The king arose from his throne, laid his crown from
him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, and he made proclamation,
and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
'Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed,
nor drink water, but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and
let them cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way,
and from the violence that is in their hands.' Then God repented Him of the evil
He had designed to bring upon them, and He did it not. Now, then, let us follow
their example, let us hold a fast, mayhap God will have mercy upon us."
Furthermore spake Mordecai: "O Lord of the world! Didst Thou not swear unto
our fathers to make us as many as the stars in the heavens? And now we are as
sheep in the shambles. What has become of Thine oath?" He cried aloud, though
he knew God hears the softest whisper, for he said: "O Father of Israel, what
hast Thou done unto me? One single cry of anguish uttered by Esau Thou didst repay
with the blessing of his father Isaac, 'By thy sword shall thou live,' and now
we ourselves are abandoned to the mercy of the sword." What Mordecai was not aware
of, was that he, the descendant of Jacob, was brought unto weeping and wailing
by Haman, the descendant of Esau, as a punishment, because Jacob himself had brought
Esau unto weeping and wailing.
THE DREAM OF MORDECAI FULFILLED
Esther, who knew naught of what was happening at court, was greatly alarmed
when her attendants told her that Mordecai had appeared in the precincts of the
palace clothed in sackcloth and ashes. She was so overcome by fright that she
was deprived of the joys of motherhood to which she had been looking forward with
happy expectancy. She sent clothes to Mordecai, who, however, refused to lay aside
his garb of mourning until God permitted miracles to come to pass for Israel,
wherein he followed the example of such great men in Israel as Jacob, David, and
Ahab, and of the Gentile inhabitants of Nineveh at the time of Jonah. By no means
would he array himself in court attire so long as his people was exposed to sure
suffering. The queen sent for Daniel, called also Hathach in the Scriptures, and
charged him to learn from Mordecai wherefore he was mourning.
To escape all danger from spying ears, Hathach and Mordecai had their conversation
in the open, like Jacob when he consulted with his wives Leah and Rachel about
leaving their father Laban. By Hathach Mordecai sent word to the queen, that Haman
was an Amalekite, who like his ancestor sought to destroy Israel. He requested
her to appear before the king and plead for the Jews, reminding her at the same
time of a dream he had once had and told her about.
Once, when Mordecai had spent a long time weeping and lamenting over the misery
of the Jews in the Dispersion, and prayed fervently to God to redeem Israel and
rebuild the Temple, he fell asleep, and in his sleep a dream visited him. He dreamed
he was transported to a desert place he had never seen before. Many nations lived
there jumbled together, only one small and despised nation kept apart at a short
distance. Suddenly a snake shot up from the midst of the nations, rising higher
and higher, and growing stronger and larger in proportion as it rose. It darted
in the direction of the spot in which they tiny nation stood, and tried to project
itself upon it. Impenetrable clouds and darkness enveloped the little nation,
and when the snake was on the point of seizing it, a hurricane arose from the
four corners of the world, covering the snake as clothes cover a man, and blew
it to bits. The fragments scattered hither and thither like chaff before the wind,
until not a speck of the monster was to be found anywhere. Then the cloud and
the darkness vanished from above the little nation, the splendor of the sun again
enveloped it.
This dream Mordecai recorded in a book, and when the storm began to rage against
the Jews, he thought of it, and demanded that Esther go to the king as the advocate
of her people. At first she did not feel inclined to accede to the wishes of Mordecai.
By her messenger she recalled to his mind, that he himself had insisted upon her
keeping her Jewish descent a secret. Besides, she had always tried to refrain
from appearing before the king at her own initiative, in order that she might
not be instrumental in bringing down sin upon her soul, for she well remembered
Mordecai's teaching, that "a Jewish woman, captive among the heathen, who of her
own accord goes to them, loses her portion in the Jewish nation." She had been
rejoicing that her petitions had been granted, and the king had not come nigh
unto her this last month. Was she now voluntarily to present herself before him?
Furthermore, she had her messenger inform Mordecai, that Haman had introduced
a new palace regulation. Any one who appeared before the king without having been
summoned by Haman, would suffer the death penalty. Therefore, she could not, if
she would, go to the king to advocate the cause of the Jews.
Esther urged her uncle to refrain from incensing Haman and furnishing him with
a pretext for wreaking the hatred of Esau to Jacob upon Mordecai and his nation.
Mordecai, however, was firmly convinced that Esther was destined by God to save
Israel. How could her miraculous history be explained otherwise? At the very moment
Esther was taken to court, he had thought: "Is it conceivable that God would force
so pious a woman to wed with a heathen, were it not that she is appointed to save
Israel from menacing dangers?"
Firm as Mordecai was in his determination to make Esther take a hand in affairs,
he yet did not find it a simple matter to communicate with her. For Hathach was
killed by Haman as soon as it was discovered that he was acting as mediator between
Mordecai and Esther. There was none to replace him, unto God dispatched the archangels
Michael and Gabriel to carry messages from one to the other and back again.
Mordecai sent word to her, if she let the opportunity to help Israel slip by,
she would have to give account for the omission before the heavenly court. To
Israel in distress, however, help would come from other quarters. Never had God
forsaken His people in time of need. Moreover, he admonished her, that, as the
descendant of Saul, it was her duty to make reparation for her ancestor's sin
in not having put Agag to death. Had he done as he was bidden, the Jews would
not now have to fear the machinations of Haman, the offspring of Agag. He bade
her supplicate her Heavenly Father to deal with the present enemies of Israel
as He had dealt with his enemies in former ages. To give her encouragement, Mordecai
continued: "Is Haman so surpassing great that his plan against the Jews must succeed?
Dost though mean to say that he is superior to his own ancestor Amalek, whom God
crushed when he precipitated himself upon Israel? Is he mightier than the thirty-one
kings who fought against Israel and whom Joshua slew 'with the word of God'? Is
he stronger than Sisera, who went out against Israel with nine hundred iron chariots,
and yet met his death at the hands of a mere woman, the punishment for having
withdrawn the use of the water-springs from the Israelites and prevented their
wives from taking the prescribed ritual baths and thus from fulfilling their conjugal
duty? Is he more powerful than Goliath, who reviled the warriors of Israel, and
was slain by David? Or is he more invincible than the sons of Orpah, who waged
wars with Israel, and were killed by David and his men? Therefore, do not refrain
thy mouth from prayer, and thy lips from supplication, for on account of the merits
of our fathers, Israel has ever and ever been snatched out of the jaws of death.
He who has at all times done wonders for Israel, will deliver the enemy into our
hands now, for us to do with him as seemeth best to us."
What he endeavored to impress upon Esther particularly, was that God would
bring help to Israel without her intermediation, but it was to her interest to
use the opportunity, for which alone she had reached her exalted place, to make
up for the transgressions committed by her house, Saul and his descendants.
Yielding at last to the arguments of Mordecai, Esther was prepared to risk
life in this world, in order to secure life in the world to come. She made only
one request of her uncle. He was to have the Jews spend three days in prayer and
fasting in her behalf, that she might find favor in the eyes of the king. At first
Mordecai was opposed to the proclamation of a fast, because it was Passover time,
and the law prohibits fasting on the holidays. But he finally assented to Esther's
reasoning: "Of what avail are the holidays, if there is no Israel to celebrate
them, and without Israel, there would not be even a Torah. Therefore it is advisable
to transgress on law, that God may have mercy upon us."
THE PRAYER OF ESTHER
Accordingly Mordecai made arrangements for a fast and a prayer-meeting. On
the very day of the festival, he had himself ferried across the water to the other
side of Shushan, where all the Jews of the city could observe the fast together.
It was important that the Jewish residents of Shushan beyond all other Jews should
do penance and seek pardon from God, because they had committed the sin of partaking
of Ahasuerus's banquet. Twelve thousand priests marched in the procession, trumpets
in their right hands, and the holy scrolls of the law in their left, weeping and
mourning, and exclaiming against God: "Here is the Torah Thou gavest us. Thy beloved
people is about to be destroyed. When that comes to pass, who will be left to
read the Torah and make mention of Thy name? The sun and the moon will refuse
to shed their light abroad, for they were created only for the sake of Israel."
Then they fell upon their faces, and said: "Answer us, our Father, answer us,
our King." The whole people joined in their cry, and the celestials wept with
them, and the Fathers came forth from their graves.
After a three days' fast, Esther arose from the earth and dust, and made preparations
to betake herself to the king. She arrayed herself in a silken garment, embroidered
with gold from Ophir and spangled with diamonds and pearls sent her from Africa;
a golden crown was on her head, and on her feet shoes of gold.
After she had completed her attire, she pronounced the following prayer: "Thou
art the great God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God of my father
Benjamin. Not because I consider myself without blemish, do I dare appear before
the foolish king, but that the people of Israel may not be cut off from the world.
Is it not for the sake of Israel alone that the whole world was created, and if
Israel should cease to exist, who will come and exclaim 'Holy, holy, holy' thrice
daily before Thee? As Thou didst save Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah out of the
burning furnace, and Daniel out of the den of lions, so save me out of the hand
of this foolish king, and make me to appear charming and graceful in his eyes.
I entreat Thee to give ear to my prayer in this time of exile and banishment from
our land. By reason of our sins the threatening words of the Holy Scriptures are
accomplished upon us: 'Ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen
and for bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.' The decree to kill us has been issued.
We are delivered up unto the sword for destruction, root and branch. The children
of Abraham covered themselves with sackcloth and ashes, but though the elders
sinned, what wrongs have the children committed, and though the children committed
wrongs, what have the sucklings done? The nobles of Jerusalem came forth from
their graves, for their children were given up to the sword.
"How quickly have the days of our joy flown by! The wicked Haman has surrendered
us to our enemies for slaughter.
"I will recount before Thee the deeds of Thy friends, and with Abraham will
I begin. Thou didst try him with all temptations, yet didst Thou find him faithful.
O that Thou wouldst support his beloved children for his sake, and aid them, so
that Thou wouldst bear them as an unbreakable seal upon Thy right hand. Call Haman
to account for the wrong he would do us, and be revenged upon the son of Hammedatha.
Demand requital of Haman and not of Thy people, for he sought to annihilate us
all at one stroke, he, the enemy and afflicter of Thy people, whom he endeavors
to hem in on all sides.
"With an eternal bond Thou didst bind us unto Thee. O that Thou wouldst uphold
us for the sake of Isaac, who was bound. Haman offered the king ten thousand talents
of silver for us. Raise Thou our voice, and answer us, and bring us forth out
of the narrow place into enlargement. Thou who breakest the mightiest, crush Haman,
so that he may never again rise from his fall. I am ready to appear before the
king, to entreat grace for my inheritance. Send Thou an angel of compassion with
me on mine errand, and let grace and favor be my companions. May the righteousness
of Abraham go before me, the binding of Isaac raise me, the charm of Jacob be
put into my mouth, and the grace of Joseph upon my tongue. Happy the man who putteth
his trust in God; he is not confounded. He will lend me His right hand and His
left hand, with which He created the whole world. Ye, all ye of Israel, pray for
me as I pray in your behalf. For whatsoever a man may ask of God in the time of
his distress, is granted unto him. Let us look upon the deeds of our fathers and
do like unto them, and He will answer our supplications. The left hand of Abraham
held Isaac by the throat, and his right hand grasped the knife. He willingly did
Thy bidding, nor did he delay to execute Thy command. Heaven opened its windows
to give space to the angels, who cried bitterly, and said: 'Woe to the world,
if this thing should come to pass!' I also call upon Thee! O answer me, for Thou
givest ear unto all who are afflicted and oppressed. Thou art called the Merciful
and the Gracious; Thou art slow to anger and great in lovingkindness and truth.
Hear our voice and answer us, and lead us out of distress into enlargement. For
three days have I fasted in accordance with the number of days Abraham journey
to bind his son upon the altar before Thee. Thou didst make a covenant with him,
and didst promise him: 'Whenever thy children shall be in distress, I will remember
the binding of Isaac favorably unto them, and deliver them out of their troubles.'
Again, I fasted three days corresponding to the three classes Israel, priests,
Levites, and Israelites, who stood at the foot of Sinai, and said: 'All the Lord
hath spoken will we do, and be obedient.'"
Esther concluded her prayer and said: "O God, Lord of hosts! Thou that searchest
the heart and the reins, in this hour do Thou remember the merits of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, that my petition to Thee may not be turned aside, nor my request
be left unfulfilled.'
ESTHER INTERCEDES
After finishing her prayer, Esther betook herself to the king, accompanied
by three attendants, one walking to the right of her, the second on the other
side, and the third bearing her train, heavy with the precious stones with which
it was studded. Her chief adornment was the holy spirit that was poured out over
her. But scarcely did she enter the chamber containing the idols, when the holy
spirit departed from her, and she cried out in great distress: "Eli, Eli, lamah
azabtani! Shall I be chastised for acts that I do against my will, and only in
obedience to the promptings of sore need? Why should my fate be different from
that of the Mother? When Pharaoh only attempted to approach Sarah, plagues came
upon him and his house, but I have been compelled for years to live with this
heathen, and Thou dost not deliver me out of his hand. O Lord of the world! Have
I not paid scrupulous heed to the three commands Thou didst specially ordain for
women?"
To reach the king, Esther had to pass through seven apartments, each measuring
ten ells in length. The first three she traversed unhindered; they were too far
off for the king to observe her progress through them. But barely had she crossed
the threshold of the fourth chamber, when Ahasuerus caught sight of her, and,
overcome by rage, he exclaimed: "O for the departed, their like is not found again
on earth! How I urged and entreated Vashti to appear before me, but she refused,
and I had her killed therefor. This Esther come hither without invitation, like
unto a public prostitute."
In consternation and despair Esther stood rooted to the centre of the fourth
chamber. Having once allowed her to pass through the doors under their charge,
the guards of the first four rooms had forfeited their authority over her; and
to the guards in the other three rooms, she had not yet given cause for interfering
with her. Yet the courtiers were so confident that Esther was about to suffer
the death penalty, that the sons of Haman were already busy dividing her jewels
among themselves, and casting lots for her royal purple. Esther herself was keenly
aware of her dangerous position. In her need, she besought God: "Eli, Eli, lamah
azabtani," and prayed to Him the words which have found their place in the Psalter
composed by King David. Because she put her confidence in God, He answered her
petition, and sent her three angels to help her: the one enveloped her countenance
with "the threads of grace," the second raised her head, and the third drew out
the sceptre of Ahasuerus until it touched her. The king turned his head round,
to avoid seeing Esther, but the angels forced him to look her way, and be conquered
by her seductive charm.
By reason of her long fast, Esther was so weak that she was unable to extend
her hand toward the sceptre of the king. The archangel Michael had to draw her
near it. Ahasuerus then said: "I see, thou must have a most important request
to prefer, else thou hadst not risked thy life deliberately. I am ready to give
it thee, even to the half of the kingdom. There is but one petition I cannot grant,
and that is the restoration of the Temple. I gave my oath to Geshem the Arabian,
Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the Ammonite, not to allow it to be rebuilt,
from fear of the Jews, lest they rise up against me."
For the moment, Esther refrained from uttering her petition. All she asked
was, that the king and Haman would come to a banquet she proposed to give. She
had good reasons for this peculiar course of conduct. She desired to disarm Haman's
suspicions regarding her Jewish descent, and to lead her fellow-Jews to fix their
hope upon God and not upon her. At the same time, it was her plan to arouse jealousy
of Haman in both the king and the princes. She was quite ready to sacrifice her
own life, if her stratagems would but involve the life of Haman, too. At the banquet
she therefore favored Haman in such manner that Ahasuerus could not but be jealous.
She moved her chair close to Haman's, and when Ahasuerus handed her his wine-cup,
to let her drink of it first, she passed it on to his minister.
After the banquet, the king repeated his question, and again made the asseveration,
that he would fulfill all her wishes at whatever cost, barring only the restoration
of the Temple. Esther, however, was not yet ready; she preferred to wait another
day before taking up the conflict with Haman. She had before her eyes the example
of Moses, who also craved a day's preparation before going out against Amalek,
the ancestor of Haman.
Deceived by the attention and distinction accorded him by Esther, Haman felt
secure in his position, priding himself not only on the love of the king, but
also on the respect of the queen. He felt himself to be the most privileged being
in all the wide realm governed by Ahasuerus.
Filled with arrogant self-sufficiency, he passed by Mordecai, who not only
refused to give him the honors decreed in his behalf, but, besides, pointed to
his knee, inscribed with the bill of sale whereby Haman had become the slave of
Mordecai. Doubly and triply enraged, he resolved to make an example of the Jew.
But he was not satisfied with inflicting death by a simple kick.
On reaching his home he was disappointed not to find his wife Zeresh, the daughter
of the Persian satrap Tattenai. As always when Haman was at court, she had gone
to her paramours. He sent for her and his three hundred and sixty-five advisers,
and with them he took counsel as to what was to be done to Mordecai. Pointing
to a representation of his treasure chamber, which he wore on his bosom, he said:
"And all this is worthless in my sight when I look upon Mordecai, the Jew. What
I eat and drink loses its savor, if I but think of him."
Among his advisers and sons, of whom there were two hundred and eight, none
was so clever as Zeresh his wife. She spoke thus: "If the man thou tellest of
is a Jew, thou wilt not be able to do aught to him except by sagacity. If thou
castest him into the fire, it will have no effect upon him, for Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah escaped from the burning furnace unhurt; Joseph went free from prison;
Manasseh prayed to God, and He heard him, and saved him from the iron furnace;
to drive him out in the wilderness is useless, thou knowest the desert did no
evil to the Israelites that passed through it; putting out his eyes avails naught,
for Samson blind did more mischief than ever Samson seeing. Therefore hang him,
for no Jew has ever escaped death by hanging."
Haman was well pleased with the words of his wife. She fetched artificers in
wood and iron, the former to erect the cross, the latter to make the nails. Their
children danced around in high glee while Zeresh played upon the cithern, and
Haman in his pleasurable excitement said: "To the wood workers I shall give abundant
pay, and the iron workers I shall invite to a banquet."
When the cross was finished, Haman himself tested it, to see that all was in
working order. A heavenly voice was heard: "It is good for Haman the villain,
and for the son of Hammedatha it is fitting."
THE DISTURBED NIGHT
The night during which Haman erected the cross for Mordecai was the first night
of Passover, the very night in which miracles without number had ever been done
for the Fathers and for Israel. But this time the night of joy was changed into
a night of mourning and a night of fears. Wherever there were Jews, they passed
the night in weeping and lamenting. The greatest terrors it held for Mordecai,
because his own people accused him of having provoked their misfortunes by his
haughty behavior toward Haman.
Excitement and consternation reigned in heaven as well as on earth. When Haman
had satisfied himself that the cross intended for his enemy was properly constructed,
he repaired to the Bet ha-Midrash, where he found Mordecai and all the Jewish
school children, twenty-two thousand in number, in tears and sorrow. He ordered
them to be put in chains, saying: "First I shall kill off these, and then I shall
hang Mordecai." The mothers hastened thither with bread and water, and coaxed
their children to take something before they had to encounter death. The children,
however, laid their hands upon their books, and said: "As our teacher Mordecai
liveth, we will neither eat nor drink, but we will perish exhausted with fasting."
They rolled up their sacred scrolls, and handed them to their teachers with the
words: "For our devotion to the study of the Torah, we had hoped to be rewarded
with long life, according to the promised held out in the Holy Scriptures. As
we are not worthy thereof, remove the books!" The out-cries of the children and
of the teachers in the Bet ha-Midrash, and the weeping of the mothers without,
united with the supplications of the Fathers, reached unto heaven in the third
hour of the night, and God said: "I hear the voice of tender lambs and sheep!"
Moses arose and addressed God thus: "Thou knowest well that the voices are not
of lambs and sheep, but of the young of Israel, who for three days have been fasting
and languishing in fetters, only to be slaughtered on the morrow to the delight
of the arch-enemy."
Then God felt compassion with Israel, for the sake of his innocent little ones.
He broke the seal with which the heavenly decree of annihilation had been fastened,
and the decree itself he tore in pieces. From this moment on Ahasuerus became
restless, and sleep was made to flee his eyes, for the purpose that the redemption
of Israel might be brought to pass. God sent down Michael, the leader of the hosts
of Israel, who was to keep sleep from the king, and the archangel Gabriel descended,
and threw the king out of his bed on the floor, no less than three hundred and
sixty-five times, continually whispering in his ear: "O thou ingrate, reward him
who deserves to be rewarded."
To account for his sleeplessness, Ahasuerus thought he might have been poisoned,
and he was about to order the execution of those charged with the preparation
of his food. But they succeeded in convincing him of their innocence, by calling
to his attention that Esther and Haman had shared his evening meal with him, yet
they felt no unpleasant effects. Then suspicions against his wife and his friend
began to arise in his mind. He accused them inwardly of having conspired together
to put him out of the way. He sought to banish this thought with the reflection,
that if a conspiracy had existed against him, his friends would have warned him
of it. But the reflection brought others in its train: Did he have any friends?
Was it not possible that by leaving valuable services unrewarded, he had forfeited
the friendly feelings toward him? He therefore commanded that the chronicles of
the kings of Persia be read to him. He would compare his own acts with what his
predecessors had done, and try to find out whether he might count upon friends.
What was read to him, did not restore his tranquility of mind, for he saw a
poor man before him none other than the angel Michael who called to him continually:
"Haman wants to kill thee, and become king in thy stead. Let this serve thee as
proof that I am telling thee the truth: Early in the morning he will appear before
thee and request permission of thee to kill him who saved thy life. And when thou
inquirest of him what honor should be done to him whom the king delighteth to
honor, he will ask to be given the apparel, the crown, and the horse of the king
as signs of distinction."
Ahasuerus's excitement was soothed only when the passage in the chronicles
was reached describing the loyalty of Mordecai. Had the wishes of the reader been
consulted, Ahasuerus had never heard this entry, for it was a son of Haman who
was filling the office of reader, and he was desirous of passing the incident
over in silence. But a miracle occurred the words were heard though they were
not uttered!
The names of Mordecai and Israel had a quieting influence upon the king, and
he dropped asleep. He dreamed that Haman, sword in hand, was approaching him with
evil intent, and when, early in the morning, Haman suddenly, without being announced,
entered the antechamber and awakened the king, Ahasuerus was persuaded of the
truth of his dream. The king was still further set against Haman by the reply
he gave to the question, how honor was to be shown to the man whom the king delighteth
to honor. Believing himself to be the object of the king's good-will, he advised
Ahasuerus to have his favorite arrayed in the king's coronation garments, and
the crown royal put upon his head. Before him one of the grandees of the kingdom
was to run, doing herald's service, proclaiming that whosoever did not prostrate
himself and bow down before him whom the king delighteth to honor, would have
his head cut off, and his house given over to pillage.
Haman was quick to notice that he had made a mistake, for he saw the king's
countenance change color at the mention of the word crown. He therefore took good
care not to refer to it again. In spite of this precaution, Ahasuerus saw in the
words of Haman a striking verification of his vision, and he was confident that
Haman cherished designs against his life and his throne.
THE FALL OF HAMAN
Haman was soon to find out that he had gone far afield in supposing himself
to be the man whom the king delighted to honor. The king's command ran: "Hasten
to the royal treasure chambers; fetch thence a cover of find purple, a raiment
of delicate silk, furnished forth with golden bells and pomegranates and bestrewn
with diamonds and pearls, and the large golden crown which was brought me from
Macedonia upon the day I ascended the throne. Furthermore, fetch thence the sword
and the coat of mail sent me from Ethiopia, and the two veils embroidered with
pearls which were Africa's gift. Then repair to the royal stables, and lead forth
the black horse whereon I sat at my coronation. With all these insignia of honor,
seek out Mordecai!"
Haman: "Which Mordecai?"
Ahasuerus: "Mordecai the Jew."
Haman: "There be many Jews named Mordecai."
Ahasuerus: "The Jew Mordecai who sits at the king's gate."
Haman: "There be many royal gates; I know not which thou meanest."
Ahasuerus: "The gate that leads from the harem to the palace."
Haman: "This man is my enemy and the enemy of my house. Rather would I give
him ten thousand talents of silver than do him this honor."
Ahasuerus: "Ten thousand talents of silver shall be given him, and he shall
be made lord over thy house, but these honors must thou show unto him."
Haman: "I have ten sons. I would rather have them run before his horse than
do him this honor."
Ahasuerus: "Thou, thy sons, and thy wife shall be slaves to Mordecai, but these
honors must thou show unto him."
Haman: "O my lord and king, Mordecai is a common man. Appoint him to be ruler
over a city, or, if thou wilt, even over a district, rather than I should do him
this honor."
Ahasuerus: "I will appoint him ruler over cities and districts. All the kings
on land and on water shall pay him obedience, but these honors must thou show
unto him."
Haman: "Rather have coins struck bearing thy name together with his, instead
of mine as hitherto, than I should do him this honor."
Ahasuerus: "The man who saved the life of the king deserves to have his name
put on the coin of the realm. Nevertheless, these honors must thou show unto him."
Haman: "Edicts and writings have been issued to all parts of the kingdom, commanding
that the nation to which Mordecai belongs shall be destroyed. Recall them rather
than I should do him this honor."
Ahasuerus: "The edicts and writings shall be recalled, yet these honors must
thou show unto Mordecai."
Seeing that all petitions and entreaties were ineffectual, and Ahasuerus insisted
upon the execution of his order, Haman went to the royal treasure chambers, walking
with his head bowed like a mourner's, his ears hanging down, his eyes dim, his
mouth screwed up, his heart hardened, his bowels cut in pieces, his loins weakened,
and his knees knocking against each other. He gathered together the royal insignia,
and took them to Mordecai, accompanied on his way by Harbonah and Abzur, who,
at the order of the king, were to take heed whether Haman carried out his wishes
to the letter.
When Mordecai saw his enemy approach, he thought his last moment had come.
He urged his pupils to flee, that they might not "burn themselves with his coals."
But they refused, saying: "In life as in death we desire to be with thee." The
few moments left him, as he thought, Mordecai spent in devotion. With words of
prayer on his lips he desired to pass away. Haman, therefore, had to address himself
to the pupils of Mordecai: "What was the last subject taught you by your teacher
Mordecai?" They told him they had been discussing the law of the `Omer, the sacrifice
brought on that very day so long as the Temple had stood. At his request, they
described some of the details of the ceremony in the Temple connected with the
offering. He exclaimed: "Happy are you that your ten farthings, with which you
bought the wheat for the `Omer, produced a better effect than my ten thousand
talents of silver, which I offered unto the king for the destruction of the Jews."
Meantime Mordecai had finished his prayer. Haman stepped up to him, and said:
"Arise, thou pious son of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thy sackcloth and ashes availed
more than my ten thousand talents of silver, which I promised unto the king. They
were not accepted, but thy prayers were accepted by thy Father in heaven."
Mordecai, not yet disabused of the notion that Haman had come to take him to
the cross, requested the grace of a few minutes for his last meal. Only Haman's
repeated protests assured him. When Haman set about arraying him with the royal
apparel, Mordecai refused to put it on until he had bathed, and had dressed his
hair. Royal apparel agreed but ill with his condition after three days of sackcloth
and ashes. As luck would have it, Esther had issued the command that the bathkeepers
and barbers were not to ply their trades on that day, and there was nothing for
Haman to do but perform the menial services Mordecai required. Haman tried to
play upon the feelings of Mordecai. Fetching a deep sigh, he said: "The greatest
in the king's realm is now acting as bathkeeper and barber!" Mordecai, however,
did not permit himself to be imposed upon. He knew Haman's origin too well to
be deceived; he remembered his father, who had been bathkeeper and barber in a
village.
Haman's humiliation was not yet complete. Mordecai, exhausted by his three
days' fast, was too weak to mount his horse unaided. Haman had to serve him as
footstool, and Mordecai took the opportunity to give him a kick. Haman reminded
him of the Scriptural verse: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not
thine heart be glad when he is overthrown." Mordecai, however, refused to apply
it to himself, for he was chastising, not a personal enemy, but the enemy of his
people, and of such it is said in the Scriptures: "And thou shalt tread upon the
high places of thine enemies."
Finally, Haman caused Mordecai to ride through the streets of the city, and
proclaimed before him: "Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth
to honor." In front of them marched twenty-seven thousand youths detailed for
this service from the court. In their right hands they bore golden cups, and golden
beakers in their left hands, and they, too, proclaimed: "Thus shall be done unto
the man whom the king delighteth to honor." The procession furthermore was swelled
by the presence of Jews. They, however, made a proclamation of different tenor.
"Thus shall be done," they cried out, "unto the man whose honor is desired by
the King that hath created heaven and earth."
As he rode along, Mordecai gave praise to God: "I will extol Thee, O Lord;
for Thou hast raised me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord
my God, I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me. O Lord, Thou hast brought
up my soul from Sheol; Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the
pit." Whereupon his pupils joined in with: "Sing praise unto the Lord, O ye saints
of His, and give thanks to His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment; in
His favor is life; weeping may tarry for the night, but joy cometh in the morning."
Haman added the verse thereto: "As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never
be moved. Thou, Lord, of Thy favor hadst made my mountain to stand strong. Thou
didst hide Thy face; I was troubled." Queen Esther continued: "I cried to Thee,
O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood,
when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise Thee? Shall it declare Thy truth?"
and the whole concourse of Jews present cried out: "Thou hast turned for me my
mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness,
to the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O Lord my
God, I will give thanks unto Thee forever."
When this procession passed the house of Haman, his daughter was looking out
of the window. She took the man on the horse to be her father, and the leader
of it, Mordecai. Raising a vessel filled with offal, she emptied it out over the
leader her own father. Scarce had the vessel left her hand, when she realized
the truth, and she threw herself from the window, and lay crushed to death on
the street below.
In spite of the sudden change in his fortunes, Mordecai ended the eventful
day as he had begun it, in prayer and fasting. No sooner was the procession over
than he put off the royal robes, and, again covering himself with sackcloth, he
prayed until night fell.
Haman was plunged in mourning, partly on account of the deep disgrace to which
he had been subjected, partly on account of the death of his daughter. Neither
his wife nor his friends could advise him how to mend his sad fortunes. They could
hold out only sorry consolation to him: "If this Mordecai is of the seed of the
saints, thou wilt not be able to prevail against him. Thou wilt surely encounter
the same fate as the kings in their battle with Abraham, and Abimelech in his
quarrel with Isaac. As Jacob was victorious over the angel with whom he wrestled,
and Moses and Aaron caused the drowning of Pharaoh and his host, so Mordecai will
overcome thee in the end."
While they were yet talking, the king's chamberlains came, and hastily carried
Haman off to the banquet Esther had prepared, to prevent him and his influential
sons from plotting against the king. Ahasuerus repeated his promise, to give Esther
whatever she desired, always expecting the restoration of the Temple. This time,
casting her eyes heavenward, Esther replied: "If I have found favor in thy sight,
O Supreme King, and if it please Thee, O King of the world, let my life be given
me, and let my people be rescued out of the hands of its enemy." Ahasuerus, thinking
these words were addressed to him, asked in irritation: "Who is he, and where
is he, this presumptuous conspirator, who thought to do thus?" These were the
first words the king had ever spoken to Esther herself. Hitherto he had always
communicated with her through an interpreter. He had not been quite satisfied
she was worthy enough to be addressed by the king. Now made cognizant of the fact
that she was a Jewess, and of royal descent besides, he spoke to her directly,
without the intervention of others.
Esther stretched forth her hand to indicate the man who had sought to take
her life, as he had actually taken Vashti's, but in the excitement of the moment,
she pointed to the king. Fortunately the king did not observe her error, because
an angel guided her hand instantaneously in the direction of Haman, whom her words
described: "This is the adversary and the enemy, he who desired to murder thee
in thy sleeping-chamber during the night just passed; he who this very day desired
to array himself in the royal apparel, ride upon thy horse, and wear they golden
crown upon his head, to rise up against thee and deprive thee of thy sovereignty.
But God set his undertaking at naught, and the honors he sought for himself, fell
to the share of my uncle Mordecai, who this oppressor and enemy thought to hang."
The anger of the king already burnt so fiercely that he hinted to Esther, that
whether Haman was the adversary she had in mind or not, she was to designate him
as such. To infuriate him still more, God sent ten angels in the guise of Haman's
ten sons, to fell down the trees in the royal park. When Ahasuerus turned his
eyes toward the interior of the park, he saw the ruthless destruction of which
they were guilty. In his rage he went out into the garden. This was the instant
utilized by Haman to implore grace for himself from Esther. Gabriel intervened,
and threw Haman upon the couch in a posture as though he were about to do violence
to the queen. At that moment Ahasuerus reappeared. Enraged beyond description
by what he saw, he cried out: "Haman attempts the honor of the queen in my very
presence! Come, then, ye peoples, nations, and races, and pronounce judgment over
him!"
When Harbonah, originally a friend of Haman and an adversary of Mordecai, heard
the king's angry exclamation, he said to him: "Nor is this the only crime committed
by Haman against thee, for he was an accomplice of the conspirators Bigthan and
Teresh, and his enmity to Mordecai dates back to the time when Mordecai uncovered
their foul plots. Out of revenge therefor, he has erected a cross for him." Harbonah's
words illustrate the saying: "Once the ox has been cast to the ground, slaughtering
knives can readily be found." Knowing that Haman had fallen from his high estate,
Harbonah was intent upon winning the friendship of Mordecai. Harbonah was altogether
right, for Ahasuerus at once ordered Haman to be hanged. Mordecai was charged
with the execution of the king's order, and Haman's tears and entreaties did not
in the least move him. He insisted upon hanging him like the commonest of criminals,
instead of executing him with the sword, the mode of punishment applied to men
of rank guilty of serious misdemeanors.
The cross which Haman, at the advice of his wife Zeresh and of his friends,
had erected for Mordecai, was now used for himself. It was made of wood from a
thorn-bush. God called all the trees together and inquired which one would permit
the cross for Haman to be made of it. The fig-tree said: "I am ready to serve,
for I am symbolic of Israel, and, also, my fruits were brought to the Temple as
firstfruits." The vine said: "I am ready to serve, for I am symbolic of Israel
and, also, my wine is brought to the altar." The apple-tree said: "I am ready
to serve, for I am symbolic of Israel." The nut-tree said: "I am ready to serve,
for I am symbolic of Israel." The Etrog tree said: "I should have the privilege,
for with my fruit Israel praises God on Sukkot." The willow of the brook said:
"I desire to serve, for I am symbolic of Israel." The cedar-tree said: "I desire
to serve, for I am symbolic of Israel." The palm-tree said: "I desire to serve,
for I am symbolic of Israel." Finally the thorn-bush came and said: "I am fitted
to do this service, for the ungodly are like pricking thorns." The offer of the
thorn-bush was accepted, after God gave a blessing to each of the other trees
for its willingness to serve.
A sufficiently long beam cut from a thorn-bush could be found only in the house
of Haman, which had to be demolished in order to obtain it. The cross was tall
enough for Haman and his ten sons to be hanged upon it. It was planted three cubits
deep in the ground, each of the victims required three cubits space in length,
one cubit space was left vacant between the feet of the one above and the head
of the one below, and the youngest son, Vaizatha, had his feet four cubits from
the ground as he hung.
Haman and his ten sons remained suspended a long time, to the vexation of those
who considered it a violation of the Biblical prohibition in Deuteronomy, not
to leave a human body hanging upon a tree overnight. Esther pointed to a precedent,
the descendants of Saul, whom the Gibeonites left hanging half a year, whereby
the name of God was sanctified, for whenever the pilgrims beheld them, they told
the heathen, that the men had been hanged because their father Saul had laid hand
on the Gibeonites. "How much more, then," continued Esther, "are we justified
in permitting Haman and his family to hang, they who desired to destroy the house
of Israel?"
Beside these ten sons, who had been governors in various provinces, Haman had
twenty others, ten of whom died, and the other ten of whom were reduced to beggary.
The vast fortune of which Haman died possessed was divided in three parts. The
first part was given to Mordecai and Esther, the second to the students of the
Torah, and the third was applied to the restoration of the Temple. Mordecai thus
became a wealthy man. He was also set up as king of the Jews. As such he had coins
struck, which bore the figure of Esther on the obverse, and his own figure on
the reverse. However, in the measure in which Mordecai gained in worldly power
and consideration, he lost spiritually, because the business connected with his
high political station left him no time for the study of the Torah. Previously
he had ranked sixth among the eminent scholars of Israel, he now dropped to the
seventh place among them. Ahasuerus, on the other hand, was the gainer by the
change. As soon as Mordecai entered upon the office of grand chancellor, he succeeded
in subjecting to his sway the provinces that had revolted on account of Vashti's
execution.
THE EDICT OF THE KING
The edict issued against the Jews was revoked by Ahasuerus in the following
terms:
"King Ahasuerus sends this letter to all the inhabitants of water and earth,
to all the rulers of districts, and to generals of the army, who dwell in every
country; may your peace be great! I write this to you to inform you, that although
I rule over many nations, over the inhabitants of land and sea, yet I am not proud
of my power, but will rather walk in lowliness and meekness of spirit all my days,
in order to provide for you great peace. Unto all who dwell under my dominion,
unto all who seek to carry on business on land or on sea, unto all who desire
to export goods from one nation to the other, from one people to the other unto
them all, I am the same, from one end of the earth to the other, and none may
seek to cause excitement on land or on sea, or enmities between one nation and
another, between one people and another. I write this, because in spite of our
sincerity and honesty with which we love all the nations, revere all the rulers,
and do good to all the potentates, there are nevertheless people who were near
to the king, and into whose hand the government was entrusted, who by their intrigues
and falsehoods misled the king, and wrote letters which are not right before heaven,
which are evil before men, and harmful for the empire. This was the petition they
requested from the king: that righteous men should be killed, and most innocent
blood be shed, of those who have not done any evil, nor were guilty of death such
righteous people as Esther, celebrated for all virtues, and Mordecai, wise in
every branch of wisdom, there is no blemish to be found in them nor in their nation.
I thought that I was requested concerning another nation, and did not know it
was concerning the Jews, who were called the Children of the Lord of All, who
created heaven and earth, and who led them and their fathers through great and
mighty empires. And now as he, Haman, the son of Hammedatha, from Judea, a descendant
of Amalek, who came to us and enjoyed much kindness, praise, and dignity from
us, whom we made great, and called 'father of the king,' and seated him at the
right of the king, did not know how to appreciate the dignity, and how to conduct
the affairs of state, but harbored thoughts to kill the king and take away his
kingdom, therefore we ordered the son of Hammedatha to be hanged, and all that
he desired we have brought upon his head; and the Creator of heaven and earth
brought his machinations upon his head."
As a memorial of the wonderful deliverance from the hands of Haman, the Jews
of Shushan celebrated the day their arch-enemy had appointed for their extermination,
and their example was followed by the Jews of the other cities of the Persian
empire, and by those of other countries. Yet the sages, when besought by Esther,
refused at first to make it a festival for all times, lest the hatred of the heathen
be excited against the Jews. They yielded only after Esther had pointed out to
them that the events on which the holiday was based, were perpetuated in the annals
of the kings of Persia and Media, and thus the outside world would not be able
to misinterpret the joy of the Jews.
Esther addressed another petition to the sages. She begged that the book containing
her history should be incorporated in the Holy Scriptures. Because they shrank
from adding anything to the triple Canon, consisting of the Torah, the Prophets,
and the Hagiographa, they again refused, and again they had to yield to Esther's
argument. She quoted the words from Exodus, "Write this for a memorial in a book,"
spoken by Moses to Joshua, after the battle of Rephidim with the Amalekites. They
saw that it was the will of God to immortalize the warfare waged with the Amalekite
Haman. Nor is the Book of Esther an ordinary history. Without aid of the holy
spirit, it could not have been composed, and therefore its canonization resolved
upon "below" was endorsed "above." And as the Book of Esther became an integral
and indestructible part of the Holy Scriptures, so the Feast of Purim will be
celebrated forever, now and in the future world, and Esther herself by her pious
deeds acquired a good name both in this world and in the world to come.
