“So!
I!
Daniel!
Was overcome!
I lay sick
For some days.
Then I arose.
I went about
The king’s business.
But I was dismayed
By the vision.
I did not understand it.”
Daniel was sick for a couple of days. Then he got up to help the king of Babylon with his business at Susa. However, he was still shaken and dismayed. He still did not fully understand that vision, even after the explanation of Gabriel.
“I heard a human voice
By the Ulai,
Calling.
‘Gabriel!
Help this man
Understand
The vision!’
So,
He came near
Where I stood.
When he came,
I became frightened.
I fell prostrate.
But he said to me.
‘Understand!
O son of man!
That the vision is
For the time
Of the end!’”
Then Daniel, in the first-person singular, heard a human voice or an angel speaking in a human voice. He was at the Ulai River, in Susa. This voice called for Gabriel to help him understand his vision. Then the archangel Gabriel came close to Daniel, but he was frightened and fell to the ground prostrate. Then Gabriel called him son of man. He told him that he should understand that this vision was for the end times.
“Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple. The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor. In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.”
We have a complete reversal of fortunes for Mordecai and the Jews. Mordecai now wore the royal blue and white robes with a golden crown with purple. He was like the king of Susa, at least the 2nd in command. The Jews in the various provinces or countries, because we are that time of the Diaspora, were glad and joyous. They held festivals and holidays. In fact, the other people sometimes professed to be Jews because they began to fear the power of the Jews. The Jewish fasting had turned to feasting.
“A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province, and published to all peoples. The Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift royal horses hurried out, urged by the king’s command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.”
Now we are back at the Hebrew text, which summarizes the letter. A copy of this decree was sent to every one of the 127 provinces so that all the people knew about this. The Jews were to be ready on the 13th of Adar to take revenge against their enemies. This word went out by the royal couriers with their swift royal horses. The king had urged them on, since this decree came from the Persian capital of Susa.
“You will therefore do well
Not to put in execution
The letters sent by Haman son of Hammedatha.
Haman, the man who did these things,
Has been hanged at the gate of Susa,
With his entire household.
God, who rules over all things,
God has speedily inflicted on him the punishment he deserved.
Therefore post a copy of this letter publicly in every place.
Permit the Jews to live under their own laws.
Give them reinforcements,
So that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,
Adar, on that very day,
They may defend themselves
Against those who attack them at the time of oppression.
God, who rules over all things,
God has made this day to be a joy
For his chosen people
Instead of a day of destruction for them.”
We continue on with the Greek text of the second letter to the Persian people from King Artaxerxes. However, here the king and Mordecai clearly state that the original letter was sent by Haman and not the king. Until this point, the king was presumed to have sent the first letter also. However, Haman has been hung at the gate to Susa with his whole family. God inflicted on him the punishment that he deserved. This new public document should be published so that all the Jews may live under their own laws. On the 13th day of Adar, they were to give reinforcements to the Jews so that they might defend themselves against any attacks. God will make this a day of joy rather than a day of destruction.
“Hachratheus went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him all that had happened. He said that Haman had promised to pay ten thousand talents into the royal treasury to bring about the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of what had been posted in Susa for their destruction. He wanted him to show it to Queen Esther. He told him to charge her to go in to the king. He wanted her to plead for his favor in behalf of her people. He said.
‘Remember the days when you were an ordinary person.
You were brought up under my care.
Haman, who stands next to the king,
He has spoken against us.
He demands our death.
Call upon the Lord!
Then speak to the king on our behalf.
Save us from death!’”
Once again there is a discrepancy between the Hebrew text that does not have the small speech of Mordecai that is found in the Greek text only. The name of the eunuch is slightly different in the Greek text also. However, the idea is about the same. Mordecai gave the decree to the eunuch. He told him that Haman was behind this move to extinguish the Jews in the Persian kingdom. He wanted him to show this decree to Queen Esther. He also wanted Queen Esther to intercede with the king to stop this destruction. In the small soliloquy, Mordecai reminded the queen that she was once an ordinary young girl under his care. He wanted here to be aware that Haman was behind all that was happening since he was calling for their death. He wanted her to pray to God and then speak to the king. Somehow Mordecai does not feel that he is the right one to present this petition to the king.
“Copies of the document were posted in every province. All the peoples were ordered to be prepared for that day. The couriers went in haste by order of the king. The matter was expedited also in Susa the capital. While the king and Haman caroused together, the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.”
Now we are back to the mixed Hebrew and Greek text. Obviously, the couriers brought the decree out to all the provinces. Everyone was to get ready for this massacre day. They also spread this news in the capital city of Susa. King Artaxerxes and Haman sat down to drink, thinking that their mission was accomplished. However, the city of Susa was confused by this decree.
“So when the decree of the king was proclaimed, many girls were gathered in Susa the capital in the custody of Hegai. Esther also was brought to Hegai who had custody of the women in the king’s palace. The girl pleased him and won his favor. He quickly provided her with her ointments and her portion of food, as well as seven maids chosen from the king’s palace. He treated her and her maids with special favor in the harem. Esther had not disclosed her people or kindred country because Mordecai had charged her not to make it known. Every day Mordecai walked around in the courtyard of the harem, to see what would happen to Esther.”
Esther must have made the cut to join the harem of King Artaxerxes. Since she was already in Susa, it was not far for her to go. This may have helped her to adjust since she had already lived in Susa. She was part of the king’s harem preparing to meet him. Although the Greek text says the head of harem was Gai, I prefer the Hebrew Hegai. Esther got along very good with this eunuch, Hegai so that he gave her perfumes, ointments, and plenty of food. He also gave her 7 maids from the king’s palace, which seems odd. She and her maids got special favors and attention. She never revealed her Jewish background, but there was no need to do so since King Artaxerxes had been kind to Nehemiah, a Jewish official cup bearer. Mordecai wanted her to keep that quiet anyway. He also seemed to be in good with the eunuchs since he sometimes slept in the courtyard with them as in preliminaries of the Greek text to this book.
“Now there was a Jew in Susa the capital, whose name was Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. The family of Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem, among the captives carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had captured. Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin. She did not have a father or mother. She was the daughter of his uncle, Aminadab. Esther was fair and beautiful in appearance. When her parents died, he brought her up to womanhood as his own daughter.”
Mordecai was a Benjaminite, the same as King Saul, and thus part of Judah. His family was brought into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon with the sitting king of Judah in 587 BCE. Things turned better for the captured Jews under the Persian kings, especially after King Cyrus in 539 BCE. This is about 50 years after that. Anyway, Mordecai’s uncle Aminadab and his wife had died, so that he took care of their young daughter Esther, who was his first cousin. He was either her foster father or adopted father, but really was a first cousin, since their father’s were brothers. Once again, there are slight differences between the Hebrew and Greek text. Aminadab was not mentioned in the Hebrew text, only in the Greek text. Also the Jewish name of Esther is only found in the Hebrew text as Hadassah, but not in the Greek text.
“After these things, the anger of King Artaxerxes abated. He remembered Queen Vashti. He remembered what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. Then the king’s servants said.
‘Let beautiful and virtuous girls be sought out for the king.
Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom.
They shall select beautiful young virgins.
Let them be brought to the harem in Susa the capital.
Let them be entrusted to the king’s eunuch.
He is in charge of the women.
Let ointments be given them.
Let whatever else they need be given to them.
Let the woman who pleases the king
Let her be queen instead of Queen Vashti.’
This pleased the king. Thus he did so.”
Now we get to the practical problem. King Artaxerxes is no longer upset. He had condemned Queen Vashti, without saying what her punishment was. King Henry VIII of England started beheading his queens that he did not like. Nothing is mentioned here by way of punishment except that she will be dethroned. The king’s servants or advisors came up with an idea. Like Donald Trump, they would have a Miss Universe pageant. He appointed officers in all the provinces to select beautiful young women to send to the capital city of Susa. They would then be in the king’s harem, under the supervision of a eunuch, a castrated man. There they would be given perfume and whatever else they needed. Finally, the king would be a panel of one, like “The Bachelor” to decide who should take the place of Queen Vashti. The king as usual said that this was a good idea.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 