Exegesis on Book of Esther
I have always liked reading the book of Esther, because she was beautiful, intelligent, and delivers the Jews of Persia from destruction. She was in fact, one of my biblical heroes as I was growing up and I just admired her so much. However, it was few years ago when I had came across a comic book written on the history of Armenia. The story wasn¯t politically correct, but it was quite interesting. One of the princesses of Armenia was sent off to Persia to married the king of Persia. It was the story of Vashti told from her side and it triggered me to think in a broader perspective. Many people often overlook Vashti because nothing much is said about a woman, who had disobeyed the king. She is basically out of the picture by the end of the first chapter of the Book. I remember my first impression of Vashti was that of a rude and undisciplined woman. I thought it was only natural that she was punished for disobeying the king and the moral learned was to not disobey your elders or your boss. After encountering that comic book, I begun to think differently about the story of Vashti. What was the real story? Therefore, I wanted to know more of the Queen Vashti. What was her reason for refusing the king?
To bring before him to bring Queen Vashti in the presence of ------- We do not know the specific reasons to why Vashti had disobeyed her husband. I can give several interpretations: 1) she did not want to be treated like one of king¯s servants, 2) it wasn¯t a custom for a queen to show herself before bunch of men officials, 3) she had a grudge against her husband so that she wanted to show him that she was angry, 4) the king was too drunk for her to simply accompany him, 5) she just did not feel like attending the party. Whatever her reasons were, I find Vashti to be quite amazing. If I were in her shoes, I would have feared to see the king get angry with me, thus following his orders without having to question him. Even if I had disobeyed his orders, I would probably have groveled at his feet asking for mercy. A. Mordecai legalizes both Purim dates (9:20-28) °Any discussion of the genre of the book of Esther must begin with the acknowledgement that it is written literature, with no stylistic traits of oral literature±. The story was not a cultic song, or recording of a speech. It is a narrative, which means people should read it. Scholars agree that Esther is one of the skillfully written works of that time. The narrative is excellent in the way that it keeps the reader in suspense and wanting to read more. Wills and Fox describe the genre of Esther as an early Jewish novella or short story. In addition, Wills describes the genre of Esther as a °court narrative.± Such writings styles were popular during the time period. It was in fact a literary genre used internationally. The narrative was used to tell the stories of Jews in court of a foreign king, who befriends the king and saves the Jew living in that kingdom. Some scholars do not regard Esther as a historical document, because of its literary style. However, many find the book to be historically true.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3170
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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