Short Answer
Esther is the kind of woman that is not altogether different from women of today. She is a complex character in biblical narrative and biblical history. She is not simply a virtuous heroine as popular films and other media depict her. Rather, she is very human, and like most humans (men and women) today, she grows. In the realm of story, we would say that Esther exhibits a noteworthy character arc.
Where Does Esther Appear in the Bible?
The woman Esther appears in the Book of Esther in the pages of the Old Testament. In modern English translations, the story[1] of Esther comes between Nehemiah and Job. However, in the Hebrew Old Testament, Esther appears after Lamentations and before Daniel. In fact, Esther is part of a grouping of five scrolls known as the megillot (a Yiddish word for “scrolls”). Within this grouping, the Megillah (“scroll”) of Esther exists alongisde the scrolls of Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and Lamentation. Taken together, these scrolls are the finest examples of narrative, poetic, and wisdom literature.
What is the Setting for the Story of Esther?
To understand the setting, we must first understand something of Old Testament history. The book of Esther takes place towards the end of the Old Testament story, despite its placement before Job. By Esther’s time, God’s people (the “Jews,” “Hebrews,” “Israel/Israelites” or “Judah”) have broken His covenant time and time again. Despite God’s gracious sending of many prophets to warn them of coming judgment and to call them back to faithfulness and blessing, the Jews continued in their idolatry and wickedness.
As he promised (Deut 28:15-68; Hab 1:5-11), God sent Babylon to overthrow and punish His people for their unfaithfulness. Babylon took most capable people captive (2 Kgs 25:1-12) and burned the Temple (2 Kgs 25:9) in 586 B.C. This period of Judah’s history is known as the Babylonian exile. For 70 years, God’s people were captive in the land of Babylon and subject to the rule of Babylon.
That could have been the end of the story, but God’s grace prevailed. As He promised, He punished Babylon also (Hab 2:6ff) and brought his people back to the land. The Lord raised up the Persian Cyrus (Isa 45), and Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to their homeland.
The story of Esther takes place in that Persian-ruled world. Cyrus the Great had, by this point, passed away. Ahasuerus, whom most scholars agree is the historical figure King Xerxes I, was the king of Persia.
As the story opens, we see immediately this Persian king who rules “from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces” (Esth 1:1). The opening verses of Esther feel very foreign because it is very foreign. The sights, sounds, smells, and names are all of non-Jewish derivation. In fact, there are no Jewish names, characters, or references in the opening chapter of the book of Esther. The kingdom is neither Israel nor Judah, but rather a foreign land. The king is not Jewish; the queen is not Jewish. Indeed, none of the wise men and counselors are known anywhere else in biblical literature.
Moreover, the king is clearly ungodly; he is drunk on his own power, and on his own wine. Yet despite his moral deficiencies, he is the ruler of an enormous empire that included the comparatively small, former kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The story impresses us with his power and wealth from the beginning. King Xerxes threw a banquet lasting 180 days. Then, he followed that feast by another seven-day feast for the occupants of the citadel at Susa.
The bulk of Esther’s story takes place within the city and the citadel of Susa, a prominent Persian city . In fact, much of the story takes place within the palace gate and within the king’s palace. Although the characters of the story remain largely in this arena, the importance of the story is far broader.
Who Was Esther?
Esther is one of the main characters of the book of Esther. One might expect that in a story called “Esther,” the woman named Esther would be the main character. Certainly, one could defend such a position. However, it is noteworthy that the woman Esther appears in only 60% of the chapters. She is absent from chapters 1, 3, 6, and 10. Meanwhile, King Ahasuerus appears in all but the fourth chapter (and even there, we read that he is “the king”). Similarly, Mordecai is only absent from chapters 1 and 7 (though chapter 7 mentions his name).
When we meet her in chapter 2, we initially see that her Hebrew name is Hadassah, which is related to the word for “myrtle.” Within the Old Testament and the history of interpretation, “myrtle” brings to mind righteousness and blessing. However, the text doesn’t linger on her Hebrew name. It quickly states that Hadassah also has the name Esther, (Esth 2:7), a name of Persian origin. From this point on, the story never mentions her Jewish name again.
Esther is a young orphan, a Jewish woman, whose parents have seemingly died. The text says, “she had neither father nor mother” (Esth 2:7). However, we soon learn that she is the “daughter of Abihail” (Esth 2:15); a fact Esther 9:29 repeats. We also learn that Mordecai, her cousin, is raising her, and that he treats her as his own daughter.
While the text gives a sizable lineage for Mordecai, its specificity about Esther concerns her physical appearance. She is described as having “a beautiful figure” and as being “lovely to look at.” Either description would be enough to mark her as a beautiful woman, but the double descriptions emphasize it. It is important to understand that the language is not applicable to her character, but focuses on her physical characteristics. Due in large part to her physical beauty, Esther moves up into the uppermost echelons of Persian power and intrigue. From there, she plays a pivotal role in helping to circumvent the destruction of her Jewish people.
What Is the Story of Esther?
Esther’s physical beauty is not tangential to the story. After foolishly deposing his wife Queen Vashti, Ahasuerus begins the hunt for another queen. He holds an empire-wide beauty contest. He has his men round up all the young, beautiful virgins bring them to the harem in Susa. Given the double emphasis on her physical beauty, the reader is unsurprised to read that Esther is also taken. With the other beautiful women, Esther finds herself in the custody of Hegai, one of the king’s eunuchs. She, along with the rest of the women, receives months of beauty treatments before going before the king. In the end, Esther wins the contest. King Ahasuerus “set the royal crown on [Esther’s] head and made her queen instead of Vashti” (Esth 2:17). Esther becomes queen of Persia!
As the queen, she is instrumental in thwarting the evil plot of a wicked vizier named Haman. It is important to understand that within the narrative of Esther is another narrative that informs our understanding of the conflict between Haman and Mordecai (and Haman and the Jews).
The text introduces Haman as “Haman, the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha.” The word “Agagite” is linked to the name “Agag,” who was king of the Amalekites. For the story’s purposes, then, Haman’s ancestry links him with one of Israel’s oldest enemies. For the Amalekites show immediate hostility to Israel as Israel is coming up out of Egypt (see Exod 17). Deuteronomy 25 further clarifies that Amalek attacked the weakest of Israel, when they were weary from coming out of Egypt. As a result, the LORD had promised He would wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And He commanded His people to do so.
Thus, Mordecai’s lineage is more than merely informational. He is a descendant of Kish, who would have been the father of King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. When he was king, Saul was commanded to wipe out the Amalekites, but he disobeyed (see 1 Sam 15). When Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman, the king’s newly appointed vizier, Mordecai is not merely being obstinate. He stands opposed to the seed of Agag. When Haman issues an edict in the king’s name for the destruction of the Jews, he is not anti-semitic. He is acting as Agag’s seed and trying to finish what his ancestors started. By annihilating the Jews, Haman will have succeeded in doing away with a long-term enemy, as well as with the divine threat against Amalek.
Upon hearing of this edict, Mordecai knows the stakes. He is aware of the conflict behind the conflict. Thus, he instructs Esther to use her royal position and plead with the king on behalf of her people. He tells her that she is in the right palace at the right time, perhaps just for this occasion. At great risk to herself, Esther dresses in her royal robes and approaches King Ahasuerus. She went unsummoned. If the king does not extend the royal scepter, her unbidden approach means death. However, upon seeing her, the king extends his scepter and offers Esther whatever she asks.
Surprisingly, Esther does not immediately ask for her people’s rescue. Instead, she invites both King Ahasuerus and Haman to a banquet. When the king reiterates his offer, she invites them to another banquet. Here, she reveals Haman’s evil plot, and the king quickly disposes of Haman. However, he cannot dispose of the edict because of the Persian rule that no one (to include the king) could repeal a king’s edict. Instead, he permits Esther and Mordecai to draft another empire-wide edict to allow the Jews to defend themselves. So, on the day meant for their slaughter, the “tables were turned, and the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them” (Esth 9:1).
In celebration of their victory over their enemies, Mordecai and Esther institute a feast day known as Purim. It was to be a day of celebration and giving of gifts, a day of “feasting and gladness” (Esth 9:22). They confirm this day with another empire-wide edict, obligating the Jews to keep this celebration in perpetuity. By the end of the book, the Jewish people are safe, Esther is queen, and Mordecai has replaced Haman as the grand vizier.
What Kind of Woman Was Esther?
With the story of Esther in mind, we come to our central question: what kind of woman was Esther? Put another way, what were the characteristics of Esther? The simple answer is that it depends on the part of the story we have in mind, for Esther’s character is dynamic, rather than static.
When we first meet her, we know little about her, other than her names (the Jewish one and the Persian one), her Jewish ancestry, and her relationship to Mordecai. The Scriptures tell us that Esther is beautiful, but we must once again refrain from viewing this description as a designation of character. To view her beauty as internal is to miss her growth and assign her merely to the realm of another Sheherezade[2] or a Beauty with Ahasuerus as her Beast. A proper reading of the story renders such comparisons impossible.
In the cases of both fictional women, they are actively pursuing their own safety and the betterment of their respective “beasts.” Esther, however, is safe within the king’s harem, albeit the harem is a luxurious prison for her. She does not have to worry for her life. Additionally, Esther never actively seeks to change the king’s character. Her actions in chapters four, five, and seven seek to change his mind about the edict, but not the inner core of his mind or heart. While Esther undergoes great change, Ahasuerus does not. He remains the proud, impetuous, and powerful monarch that we met in chapter one.
Aside from her beauty, one of the most obvious and repeated realities about Esther in chapter two, is that she is a passive character. She is taken by the king’s men, taken into Hegai’s care, given her cosmetics, and taken to the king. When the king chooses her, he puts the crown on her head, and he throws a feast in her honor. The story actually calls it “Esther’s feast” (Esth 2:18). Yet at this feast, Esther is both spectator and spectacle. She is not the acting character. And while she is queen, her crown is not hers by right of bloodline or of victory. As the reader saw in the opening chapter, the king can remove the queen’s crown can with a single command.
Not only is she passive, but she is silent. She has no speaking parts in all of chapter two. One of the things we might expect her to say aloud she deliberately keeps hidden, namely her Jewish background.
There are only three active things that Esther does in chapter two. Working in reverse order, we see that the second active thing is that she informs the king of two traitors who have hatched an assassination plot against King Ahasuerus. Even here, though, Mordecai, not Esther, is the primary actor. He discovers the plot, and he tells Esther. All Esther does is relay what Mordecai has learned. We also observe in that same section that it says “Esther obeyed Mordecai, just as when she was brought up by him.” This “activity,” only further underscores her passivity. She isn’t a free agent, but is subject to Mordecai, subject to the king, subject to Hegai. In every realm, in seemingly every way, she exhibits passivity, not activity.
The first activity is more troubling, which is why we are handling it in second position. That activity is in the verb “won.” We read three different times that Esther “won favor” with the eunuchs and everyone else, or “won grace and favor” in the eye of the king (Esth 2:9, 15, 17). A common tendency is to view this as a certain strength of character, like meekness, that both eunuchs and the king observe and respect . An honest reading, however, shows us quite a different picture. While it is true that Esther is taken against her will, it is also true that once part of the harem, Esther tries to win. Her “winning” is not a passive reality, but an active one. We might say in more common parlance, “she was in it to win it.” And win she did.
The book of Esther never gives any salacious details, but it hints at enough to give the reader an impression of what “one night with the king” and “pleasing him” actually mean. The silences of the text are deliberately loud. While the text never renders judgment on Esther, commentators are surely right to conclude that for the Jew, there is only one law by which we can gauge her, and from the vantage point of that law, Esther fails miserably. After all, she goes in to please (and then to marry) an ungodly, uncircumcised pagan! One can, of course, argue that she has no choice. That is not really true, though. The Bible also gives us the stories of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, all of whom choose God over idolatry of defilement (Dan 3).
Thus, our initial meeting with Esther is a surprising and slightly disturbing one. She is a Jew, but not a good one. She is a Jew, but one willing to hide her Jewish identity, and as Frederick Bush[3] has asked, how long could she hide her Jewishness without denying it altogether? How could she be Jewish and keep kosher food laws in the king’s court? How could she be Jewish and honor the Sabbath as God commanded? These are legitimate questions. In the opening of the story, we have Jewish woman who is also a queen with a Persian name, sitting on a Persian throne, married to a Persian man, with whom she commits fornication prior to her marriage. She is passive when she should be active and active in all the wrong ways.
As mentioned above, Esther is absent from chapter three but appears again in the fourth chapter. Here, we see that she has become even more “entrenched” in Persian life. She has grown distant from Mordecai. At the end of chapter two, we read that Mordecai “told” the assassination plot “to Esther.” But in chapter 4, with Mordecai in sackcloth and crying out loudly at the king’s gate, the news must come to Esther through her “young women and her eunuchs” (Esth 4:4). To her credit, she is “deeply distressed,” but also someone insensitive. Rather than recognizing the Jewish garb of mourning and respecting it, she sends him clothes that he might change. While it’s true that Esther may have been trying to enable him to come into the king’s gate, it is also true that her attempt to do this lacks awareness and sensitivity.
In this chapter, the bulk of their interaction occurs through intermediaries. The reader discovers that not only has Esther not done anything about the edict; she does not even know that it exists. In other words, Esther has grown distant not only from Mordecai, but from all of her people. When Mordecai pleads with Esther to go before the king, her first words are words of concern are neither for the Jews broadly, nor for the Jewish community in Susa, but for herself. Indeed, the way she refers to “the people of the king’s provinces” (Esth 4:11) puts Israel, as one of those provinces, at a distance from her, as does her identification of them as belonging to the king.
Mordecai, however, is undeterred by her words. He presses upon her the solidarity she shares with “the other Jews” (Esth 4:13). He also declares that if Esther refuses to act, help “will arise for the Jews from another place,” but perhaps she has arrived here, as queen in Persia “for such a time as this” (Esth 4:14).
By the end of the exchange, Mordecai’s words have had their intended effect. Esther, who had previously tried to stop Mordecai’s mourning, asks the Jews to fast for her and promises to go before the king. The chapter, though, does not end with a promise, but with a command. Whereas chapter two had twice stated that Esther obeyed Mordecai, chapter four ends with Mordecai’s obedience to Esther. This is her turning point. It is at this juncture that Esther has found her voice. It is at this point that she comes into her own as a character and as a queen. In addition, it is here that her activity has brought her back into a relationship with Mordecai, with her people, and with her God.
Concerning Mordecai, she moves from being unaware of his activities to being back in conversation with him. The Hebrew dialogue markers actually highlight that they are coming more closely together. As the chapter closes, they are unified once again, but this time with Esther in a higher position than Mordecai. Furthermore, by committing herself to fasting with the Jews in Susa, she shows her solidarity with them for the first time. Moreover, she commits to do this with her “young women.” Previously, it seemed that Esther had capitulated and compromised on every point with the Persians. Here, however, she actually brings the Persians into participation with the Jews!
Most importantly, chapter 4 is closing the gap between Esther and her God. This final point is never explicit, but it is implicit and necessary to the text and the story. To join the Jews in a fast is to join not merely to a cultural rite, but to a cultic one – a rite with religious significance. Indeed, the Jews’ activity of “fasting and weeping and lamenting” (Esth 4:3) are the very trio of activities to which God calls his people in Joel 2:12. In that passage, the LORD through His prophet calls Israel back to himself “with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
That Esther now participates in at least one (and presumably others) of these penitent rites is to join in coming back to the Lord. Indeed, Esther is about to go before the king. We know that the king likes her particularly for her beauty, and yet her plan is to go before him not having eaten or drunk anything for three days – a choice that would render her not at her physical best. The only way in which this plan makes sense is if her fasting brings her first before the King of kings.
From this point on, the story moves at a rapid pace. The first four chapters cover a period of multiple years, but chapters five through eight take place in only a few days, with chapters nine and ten taking place several months later based on the edict, though the events of these final two chapters really occur in a matter of two or three days.
Esther, now confirmed in her role as Persian queen and as Jewish woman, sets her mind to working against Haman’s plot. She displays great courage when she appears before the king in the inner court.Hhe sits upon his royal throne, and he has not summoned her. Her actions will result in immediate death, unless the king in his kindness extends the golden scepter to her. Whether out of curiosity for her presence or true desire to see her, the king does extend the scepter and preserves her life. Esther’s courage secures the king’s favor for the moment, and he promises to answer her request.
Rather surprisingly, Esther does not immediately ask for anything in regards to her people. Instead, she invites the king and Haman to two back-to-back banquets, at which they are the guests of honor. She is playing by court etiquette, but she is also setting up her plan to expose Haman as an enemy, not merely of the Jews, but of the empire. In these banquets, Esther again displays great courage, putting herself in a room with a volatile king and an irascible enemy. Additionally, she displays great cunning and ability in her use of banquets, her political acumen, and her patience in bringing the matter before the king. During the second banquet, she successfully catches Haman off guard, and Haman is hung on the impaling spike he had erected for Mordecai!
In chapters eight and nine, Esther secures the king’s permission to draft another edict, this one allowing the Jews to fight against their enemies when, according to Haman’s irrevocable edict, the Persians attack the Jews. For the first time in the story, the Persian bureaucratic machine is used for a good purpose. Following on the heels of this missive, Esther drafts a second edict allowing for the Jews to act similarly on a second day.
Here, readers struggle to understand what seems like mere vengeance or blood-lust on the part of Esther. However, one must keep in mind both the covenantal story of the divinely commanded Jewish conflict with Amalek and the edict itself. Within the covenantal history, Esther is accomplishing what her ancestor Saul failed to accomplish: the complete destruction of Amalek. She is not going beyond the bounds of command; she is following them.
Furthermore, the second edict, like the first, is defensive. It permits the Jews to kill only those who “attack them,” and in a covenantal framework, all who attack God’s people are the “seed” of the wicked one, who in this case is embodied by the Amalekites. The Jews’ actions on these two days reconstitute them as the faithful and obedient people of God, which by implication, means that Esther’s actions confirm her as acting in faithful obedience. As queen, she succeeds, along with her cousin Mordecai, where their ancestor Saul, as king, had failed.
The ninth chapter gives us the formalizing of celebratory feast days in the Feast of Purim. The feast celebrates deliverance and rescue, and Mordecai and Esther officialize the dates and the requirement. So by the end of the story, Esther has become queen in truth, not merely in name over Persia, but in character over God’s people. She has acted justly and with covenant faithfulness, a beautiful and wonderful character arc indeed!
What Is the Purpose of the Story of Esther?
On its face, the story of Esther is a story of court intrigue, danger, courage, surprising turnabouts, and victory. Some have suggested that Esther’s narrative gives historical reasons for the existence of the Feast of Purim: namely, the salvation of the Jews and the annihilation of their enemies. Purim is unique in Scripture, as it is the only feast in Scripture that God did not institute.[4]
More than that, however, the story of Esther shows the reader how God’s plan is always in effect to save and redeem His people, even when the odds are decidedly against their victory. Although the story of Esther does not mention God, it is clearly God’s help that causes events to fall out as they do. All of the great things that happen are clearly outside the control of any one character. For instance, Mordecai’s statement in 4:14 that “relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place” is comprehensible only if one can see God at work throughout the story.
Similarly, while Esther’s banquets for Xerxes and Haman are part of her plan, she cannot plan for how either Haman or the king will actually react. She must trust that their actions will fall in her favor. Likewise, in Esther 9:1, when the Persians expect to annihilate the Jews, the text says, “the reverse occurred.” The verb there is passive, meaning someone/something reversed the expectations. The only One with power to do so is God. The counter-edict issued by Esther and Mordecai only allowed for the Jews to defend themselves. It did not and could not guarantee their success. Truly, the ironic, humorous, and surprising twists in the story can only occur when God shows his governance of the affairs of kings and commoners.
Esther’s story functions to show God’s lovingkindness for his entire people, those in Persia, and those who returned to Israel. He uses Esther’s position as queen to save the Jews scattered throughout the Persian empire. In so doing, He enables his plan to continue so that He might, “in the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4), bring forth the Messiah — Jesus — to save not only Jews, but all those who trust in his name.
Bibliography
Baldwin, Joyce G. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries : Esther : An Introduction and Commentary. Edited by Donald J Wiseman. London, Downer’s Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1984.
Bush, Frederic W. Word Biblical Commentary: Ruth-Esther, Volume 9. Edited by Bruce M Metzger, John D W Watts, and James Watts. Vol. 9. Grand Rapids (Mich.): Zondervan Academic, 1996.
Chabad.org. “What Does the Name Hadassah Mean?” @chabad, February, 2012. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1769366/jewish/What-Does-the-Name-Hadassah-Mean.htm.
Cosper, Mike. Faith among the Faithless. Edinburgh, Scotland: Thomas Nelson, 2018.
Duguid, Iain. Esther & Ruth: Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2005.
Jobes, Karen H. The NIV Application Commentary: Esther. Grand Rapids (Mich.): Zondervan, 1999.
Recommended Reading
Esther: The Hidden Hand of God by Lydia Brownback
Three Things You Should Know about Esther by Aaron Garriott
Footnotes
“Story” is not a word denoting fabrication or fiction. It is a synonym for narrative, which denotes the book’s genre. ↑
Sheherazade is the storyteller in the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the One Thousand and One Nights. ↑
Frederic W. Bush, “The Book of Esther: Opus non gratum in the Christian Canon,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 8 (1998): 39-54. ↑
In John 10:22-23, Jesus goes up for the “Feast of Dedication” also known as Hanukkah. However, while the feast is mentioned, its institution is not given in the pages of Scripture. ↑
