ESTHER.

3 THE BOOK OF ESTHER IS ONE OF THE FIVE SCROLLS THAT JEWS READ TODAY WHEN IMPORTANT JEWISH FESTIVALS ARE OBSERVED. THE HEBREW VERSIONS DOES NOT CONTAIN A SINGLE REFERENCE TO GOD OR TO THE RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS OF JUDAISM. SEVERAL PASSAGES HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE GREEK VERSION TO GIVE IT A MORE SPIRITUAL TONE. INTERESTLY ENOUGH, ESTHER EVENTUALLY CAME TO BE REGARDED AS SECOND IN IMPORTANCE ONLY TO THE PENTATEUCH ITSELF. ITS MANUSCRIPTS EXCEED IN NUMBER THOSE OF ANY OTHER BOOK OF THE BIBLE, AND OFTEN MAGNIFICENTLY OF EXQUICENTLY ILLUMINATED AND ENCASED IN SILVER AND GOLD EXQUISITE WORKMANSHIP. THE STORY IS SET IN THE REIGN OF AHASUERUS, OR XERXES 1 (486-465) THE SCENE IS XERXES WINTER PALACE IN SUSA. THE KING HAD PREPARED A LAVISH BANQUET, BUT HIS QUEEN VASHTI REFUSED TO PUT INTO A APPEARANCE AND WAS DEPOSED. THE KING ORDERED A SEARCH THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE FOR BEAUTIFUL WOMEN, TO CHOOSE ONE OF THEM AS THE NEW QUEEN. A JEWISH LASS,  HADASSAH, TOOK PART IN THE COMPETITION. SHE IS CALLED ESTHER IN THE BOOK. SHE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL THAT IT WAS NOT EVEN NECESSARY FOR HER TO GO THROUGH THE CUSTOMARY ONE YEAR OF BEAUTY TREATMENT TO WIN THE KINGS HEART. ESTHER WAS THE COUSIN OF MORDECAI, WHO SERVED ON THE STAFF AT THE KING'S PALACE. MORDECAI LEARNED OF A PLOT TO KILL THE KING AND SHARED THE SECRET WITH ESTHER, WHO IN TURN ALERTED THE THE KING. THE PLOTTERS WERE PUT TO DEATH. HOWEVER, MORDECAI RAN INTO TROUBLE WITH XERXES GRAND VIZIER, HAMAN, BECAUSE MORDECAI REFUSED TO PAY HIM THE APPROPRIATE COURTESIES. HAMAN SO RESENTED MORDECAI'S ATTITUDE THAT HE DEVISED A PLOT TO DESTROY ALL JEWS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. HE POINTED OUT TO THE KING THAT THE JEWS REFUSED TO ASSIMILATE, AND CHOSE TO LIVE BY THEIR OWN LAWS., 3:8. XERXES GRANTED HIM PERMISSION TO ISSUE AN EDICT. ALL JEWS WERE TO BE MASSACRED ON THE 13th DAY OF ADAR. MORDECAI PERSUADED ESTHER TO RISK HER LIFE IN ORDER TO SAVE HER PEOPLE. SHE APPEARED BEFORE THE KING IN AN UNSUMMONED VISIT, EVEN THOUGH  SUCH AN ACTION COULD BE PUNISHED BY DEATH. SHE ASKED THAT BOTH THE KING AND HAMAN TAKE PART IN A BANQUET THAT SHE HERSELF WOULD PREPARE FOR THEM THAT VERY DAY. THEY DID THIS SHE INVITED THEM TO DINE WITH HER THE NEXT DAY. ON HIS WAY HOME, HAMAN SAW MORDECAI AND WAS FILLED WITH HATRED AND ANGER TOWARDS HIM. HAMAN'S WIFE AND FRIENDS SUGGESTED THAT HE SET UP A HUGE GALLOWS AND ASKED THE KING TO HAVE MORDECAI HANGED ON IT.  FORTUNATELY THAT VERY NIGHT THE KING REMEMBERED THAT THOUGH MORDECAI HAD SAVED HIS LIFE,  HE HAD NOT BEEN REWARDED FOR THIS.  THE NEXT DAY HAMAN ARRIVED AT THE KING'S COURT HOPING TO PERSUADE XERXES TO HAVE HIS ENEMY HANGED, BUT FOUND HIMSELF IN THE EMBARRASSING POSITION OF BEING SENT BY HE KING TO HONOR MORDCAI.
HAMAN RETURNED TO THE PALACE TO JOIN THE ROYAL COUPLE IN THE SECOND BANQUET, BUT BECAME HORRIFIED WHEN ESTHER POURED OUT HER HEART TO THE KING ABOUT THE APPROACHING SLAUGHTER OF HER PEOPLE AND LAID THE BLAME FOR THE PLOT AT HAMAN'S FEET.  THE KING MOVED AWAY TO PONDER THE SITUATION, AND HAMAN PLEADED WITH ESTHER FOR HIS LIFE. THE KING INTERPRETED  HAMAN'S ACTION AS AN ATTEMPTED ASSAULT ON THE QUEEN AND HAD HIM HANGED ON THE GALLOWS HE HAD PREPARED FOR MORDECAI. HAMAN'S TEN SONS WERE ALSO PUT TO DEATH AND HIS PROPERTY MADE OVER TO ESTHER.
 MORDECAI WAS ENTRUSTED WITH THE POSITION LEFT VACANT BY HAMAN'S EXECUTION. HAMAN HAD PLOTTED TO HAVE ALL JEWS PUT TO DEATH ON THE 13TH ADAR. INSTEAD, THE JEWS IN SUSA WERE GIVEN PERMISSION TO PUT THEIR PERSECUTORS TO DEATH ON THIS DAY. THE JEWS WHO LIVED OUT IN THE PROVINCES WERE PERMITTED TO DO THE SAME THING ON THE 14TH ADAR. WHEN THIS "HOLY WAS" WAS OVER, A JOYOUS FESTIVAL CAME TO BE KNOWN AS PURIM, TO RECALL THE LOT  (IN HEBREW, PUR). HAMAN HAD CAST TO DECIDE ON WHICH DAY THE JEWS WERE TO BE KILLED. THE BOOK, THEN, EXPLAINS THE REASON FOR THE CELEBRATION OF PURIM, AND WHY IT WAS CELEBRATED ON TWO DAYS,3:7; CH 9. ESTHER WOULD HAVE SPOKEN MEANINGFULLY TO JEWS SUBJECTED TO PERSECUTION BECAUSE  OF THEIR UNWILLINGNESS TO ASSIMILATE. THE ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF PURIM CAME TO MEAN MUCH TO THE JEWS DURING THE MACCABEAN PERIOD. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT , ACCORDING TO THE TALMUD, IT IS PERMISSIBLE TO DRINK WINE DURING PURIM UNTIL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN  "BLESSED BE MORDECAI" AND "CURSED BE HAMAN!" BECOMES BLURRED AND INDISTINGUISHABLE. PERHAPS THIS IS WHY THE NAME OF GOD IS NOT MENTIONED IN THE BOOK, LEST ITS MENTION AT SUCH A FEAST RESULT IN ITS BEING PROFANED.