Thursday, June 25, 2020

Esther 1 - - Ahasuerus and Vashti


This is the first in what I’m planning as a series of blog posts on the book of Esther.  Many of my readers are familiar with the story and even know that Jews have a celebration each year, surrounding this book of the Tanakh (Old Testament).  That celebration occurs in the spring, not long before Passover, and is called Purim (Poo-REEM). 

From whence does the name Purim come?  When you see an "im" on the end of a Hebrew word, it indicates the plural.  For example, Elohim is plural for our Triune God, Three-in-One.  Kohanim is a word that means priesthood, a plurality of priests.  The word purim means "lots".  Jewish people of the ancient world would cast lots to discern God's will in a decision, sort of like the modern-day equivalent of rolling dice.  So, you might call the Jewish Feast of Purim the Feast of Lots, or the Feast of Dice.  At various points in the Esther story, it seems that events are spiraling out of control.  They are never, however, out of God's control.  By the end of the story, the will and hand of God cause every "lot" to fall into His perfect will.

Recently, I studied the book of Esther with Dr. Jennifer Scrivner of Beth HaShomer Ministries, Joseph Good of Hatikvah Ministries, and some friends. I learned a lot about its historical connotations and symbolism.  It’s those aspects I hope to add to your understanding of this great book, as we journey through.
I am not going to re-tell the basic story here.  To refresh your memory, it is recommended you re-read Esther before jumping into these blog posts.

One of unique features of the book of Esther is that it never mentions the name of the LORD directly.  It is the only book of the Bible with this distinct feature.  Some scholars of Judaism believe The Name is hidden in various verses as an acrostic in four different verses, a concealment of sorts. Concealment, hiddenness, is a theme of the book.  A couple of examples: Mordecai and Esther concealed their Jewish heritage from the king.  Haman concealed his ulterior, evil motives from the king.
At any rate, the rabbis debated and debated whether or not to even include the book of Esther in the Tanakh, because of the fact that The Name, the Tetragrammaton (YHWH, the name of the LORD too holy to be spoken aloud) is not explicitly mentioned therein.
In the Temple, the ineffable, personal name of the L-RD was only invoked in certain areas - - the inner court (the Azarah) - - for example.  When the priests pronounced the blessing on the people, and heard that Name spoken aloud, they fell prostrate on their faces before Him.  The only other time it was said aloud was when the priest performed the annual Yom Kippur service, and then he said it 8 times in the Holy of Holies.

Along with the theme of concealment, other themes in the book have to do with the (future) False Messiah and his demonic hatred of the Jews, as well as the Messianic Kingdom of the last days. These will be developed more fully later in this study.  The date span, over which the Esther story took place, is given in the book to be between Nisan 13 and 17, roughly the dates of Passion Week, in Jesus’ day.  Again, this will become more relevant later in our study.

Now, let’s look at the key players in this story and what many scholars believe they represent.

The King (Ahasuerus)

{Parenthetical:  at this point my study truly went down a rabbit hole.  For two days, I studied the various Ahasueruses and Dariuses of the Bible. Do not proceed if you want to keep your sanity, as there were 3 different Dariuses listed in the Bible, and also 3 different Ahasueruses, lol!
Here is what I was able to put together from various sources about those rulers.}

There are 3 separate Persian dynasties which flit in and out of scripture.
1. Ahasuerus (Cyaxares I).  He had two sons: Cambyses I and Darius the Mede.  Cambyses was the father of Cyrus the Great, overarching ruler of Persia from 590-530 B.C.  During Cyrus’ reign, he appointed his uncle, Darius the Mede, as prefect/satrap over Babylon; he served in that capacity from 538-536 B.C., right after Babylon fell.) This is the Darius of Daniel 6:1 and 9:1.  Cyrus the Great was succeeded by Cambyses II, also known as Ahasuerus (the second Ahasuerus mentioned in scripture). Some believe this "second Ahasuerus" was the Ahasuerus referred to in Ezra 4.  At first, I did not believe so.  However, after careful study, I believe he actually was.  Cambyses II ruled for only about 8 years, 530-522.  The reason I believe he was the Ahasuerus of Esther and of Ezra is because of the historical dates of each ruler's reign.  This king died, leaving no heirs, a very important point.  Accordingly....
2. The next dynasty to come to power was through the Persian satrap, Hystaspes, because Cambyses II left no heirs.  Hystaspes' son was Darius I (Darius the Great), who reigned from 522-487 (Darius #2 in scripture).  Darius' son was Xerxes I (aka Ahasuerus - - the third Ahasuerus in scripture).  Xerxes I ruled from 487-465 and, as previously mentioned, some scholars believe he is the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther and Ezra 4.  Xerxes I is also sometimes called Artaxerxes, but it was actually his son who was Artaxerxes I and who succeeded him.
3. The third Darius in scripture is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:12.  This “Darius the Persian” is Darius Codomannus (336-331) of history, the last ruler of Persia before the Persian Empire was defeated by Alexander the Great.

So.....
The Persian Empire, at the time of Esther, stretched from Egypt to India (Esther 1:1 and 8:9).
The setting of the story is either 527 B.C. or 483 B.C., depending on "which Ahasuerus" you subscribe to.  After their 70 years of captivity to the Babylonians (608-538), some of the Jews had been allowed to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the Temple (which was finished in 516 BC).  The story of Esther takes place during a lull in the construction of the Temple.  Therefore, if Xerxes I reigned from 486 to 465, and the Temple was completed in 516 B.C., Xerxes I would not be Esther's king.  Jewish tradition holds that Ahasuerus had halted the rebuilding for a short time and that it was during this lull that the story of Esther took place.  The prophet Ezra says this:

4  Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build. 
5  They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
 6  At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, an accusation was lodged against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
7  And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes.
Ezra 4:4-7

A careful reading of these verses shows that the opposition to rebuilding, which had been occurring for decades, off and on since the reign of Cyrus, intensified to an accusation to King Xerxes I and an outright letter of appeal to his son, King Artaxerxes I.  The actually stoppage was ordered by Xerxes I’s son, Artaxerxes.

Here is an interesting tale about Xerxes I (just for the fun of it).  He invaded Greece with an army, it is said, of more than 2,000,000 soldiers, only 5,000 of whom returned with him. Leonidas, with his famous 300, arrested his progress at the Pass of Thermopylae, and then he was defeated disastrously by Themistocles at Salamis. Xerxes I had quite a temper.  It’s reported he was so angry at this naval loss to the Greeks, he commanded that his troops “whip the Mediterranean Sea” (with whips!) for the entire 3-day journey from Athens back to Persia!

Regardless of which Ahasuerus you subscribe to, Cambyses II or Xerxes I, the king represented ultimate authority and supreme worldly power.  Although a corrupted, idolatrous pagan, he is a picture of the authority of the Most High God.

Queen Vashti

In the Oral Torah (the Midrash), Cyrus the Persian (Cyrus the Great) and Darius the Mede were at the infamous banquet on the night King Belshazzar of Babylon died (Daniel 5:2-4). If you recall, it was at this banquet Belshazzar ordered the sacred items from the Jewish Temple brought out of storage and used as common tableware.  At that time, “the writing on the wall” appeared.  The Midrash says that in the pandemonium which took place after Daniel interpreted the writing, a chandelier fell from the ceiling onto Belshazzar, killing him instantly.  9-year old Vashti is identified as the orphaned daughter of Belshazzar. The Midrash goes on to say that King Darius the Mede married her off to Ahasuerus, his son, also known as Cambyses II, years later.  Belshazzar died in 539 B.C., and the banquet of Cambyses II (Ahasuerus) took place in 527 B.C., the third year of his reign.  If Vashti were 9 when Belshazzar died, she would have been around 21 when the banquet described in Esther took place, IF you believe the Ahasuerus of Esther was Cambyses II.
The third year of Xerxes I's reign would have been 484 B.C., which would have made Vashti somewhere in her late-60s when the story of Esther took place.  Not likely.
Regardless....

When the biblical story of Esther begins, Vashti is the Queen.  She is referred to as Queen Vashti until she refuses to answer Ahasuerus’ summons to appear before his guests at a banquet held in the third year of his reign.  After her refusal, her royal title is revoked. The divorce from Queen Vashti occurred after the infamous, royal banquet.  The Oral Torah (Midrash) states that the Esther 1:11 summons for Queen Vashti to appear “in her crown” to be actually “nothing but her crown”, in other words, to be paraded around butt-naked, which would amply explain why she refused.

Some scholars believe Vashti represents those caught up in paganism, including faux-Christian paganism, who reject King Jesus’ summons (Luke 14:16-24) and who will be replaced with the true Bride of Christ (both Gentile and Jewish believers).

We will continue in the next post, with the remaining characters in the story.

Sources:

https://biblehub.com/topical/a/ahasuerus.htm


https://www.gotquestions.org/Darius-in-the-Bible.html

Cahn, J., The Book of Mysteries: "The Cosmic Dice", p. 189, Charisma House Book Group, Lake Mary FL, 2016

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/vashti-midrash-and-aggadah


https://www.sefaria.org/Megillah.12b?lang=bi

4 comments:

  1. I always learn so much from your studies Ms. Gena. Thank you for sharing your discoveries from God's word ma'am.

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    1. Thank you so much for visiting, J.D.
      You are such an encouraging friend! I'm so glad you find my posts edifying.

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  2. Gena, I love this! Thanks for all your research and information...I can't wait to read more, this is right up my alley.

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    1. Stephanie, thank you for visiting! I am so glad you are receiving a blessing from the study.

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