Hebrew Exegesis: Esther 4:9-17

Hebrew Exegesis:  Esther 4:9-17

Translation

So Hathach  returned, from the King’s gate  where Mordecai was mourning , and relayed Mordecai’s charge  to Esther.

Esther replied, “Everyone knows, the servants and the people of the provinces, that if a man or woman enters into the inner court of the King without having been summoned  that there is a law which says that all, including me the Queen , will be put to death.  The one exception is if the King holds out his golden scepter to that person then they can live.  I have not been summoned by the King in thirty days.”

They  told Mordecai what Esther said and he responded to her by saying, “Don’t think that you will be spared  (from decree /death)  because you are in the King’s palace - over all the other Jews.  Should you choose to remain silent, at this time, help and rescue for the Jews will come from elsewhere but you and your Father’s House will perish .   Could  it be that you are Queen , in this kingdom, at this time for this very reason?”  

Esther responded to Mordecai saying, “Go and gather all the Jews that are present in Shushan to fast for me, eating and drinking nothing for three days and three nights:  I and my maids will do the same.  When the fast is finished, even though it is against the law, I will go in unto the King and if I perish, I perish .

Mordecai went his way to complete the charge  that Esther had given to him.

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Outline

Introduction

Analysis

1. Chinese Whispers – Hadassah the possession (v:9)

2. Give Me A Minute – Hadassah / Esther takes a stand (v:11)

3. Oppressive Male Manipulation – Esther emerging (v:12-14)

4. Esther finds her voice and transitions – (v:15-16)

5. Role Reversal – Queen Esther a woman of faith and initiative (v:17)

Conclusion

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Introduction

Every time I read this story, I am captivated by the extraordinary difficulty this young woman faced.  Born after the Babylonian Exilic period (Est 2:6), unable to practice her faith, to have seen the death of her mother and father, orphaned and left in a questionable relationship with her cousin Mordecai (Est 2:7), her name changed (Est2:7), her identity suppressed (Est 2:10) and to be removed from her home for the opportunity to be imprisoned in the king’s harem and prepped, for an entire year, to be raped by the King (Est2:2-5).  This same young woman also possessed a beauty that granted her favor with those she encountered (Est 2:7, 9, 15, 17).  Christopher Ash describes her as a ‘creature of the empire’  because of her appearance that fit in perfectly with the boastful showy empire of King Ahasuerus that displayed tremendous wealth and resources (Est 2:4).   The best of the best and the greatest of the greatest!

While Hadassah, the name given to her by her parents, is caught in a time when women have no rights and no agency apart from a man; she is an innocent who has had injustices enacted upon her yet even in such dire straits she finds a way to assert herself.  In her process she transitions from an objectified virgin girl - possession of the Empire to a Queen of substance, faith and initiative.

Analysis

At the opening of the text we see the continuation of a game I grew up playing called Chinese Whispers.  I have no idea why we called it that however the premise of the game was to pass a message through several people and in hopes that the message stayed intact upon reaching the last person. While this was no game for Esther the risk was high as she had to put her trust in handmaidens and eunuchs appointed to her by the King.  Kandy Queen Sutherland states and I quote:

“…Esther and Mordecai communicate through a eunuch about Haman’s plan.  Ether first hears that something ominous is going on when her female attendants and eunuchs come and tell her.  They know what she does not know.  In the narrative of the story they constitute a layer between Esther and the outside world.  Without their knowledge and reporting, Esther is oblivious to the events outside the palace walls.” 

Through them she sent ‘treason like’ messages to Mordecai and had to trust they delivered the message intact and kept her secrets.  Esther had to rely on servants who while she held a higher title, in King Ahasuerus’ court, her servants had more agency.  Though she was Queen, Esther was also a kept possession with no access to the outside world.  

To exemplify her oppression, it is not until just past the midway point of the fourth chapter, of a book named after her, do we even hear Queen Esther’s voice.   The Queen is responding to a demand being placed on her by cousin Mordecai. 

Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death.”  Esther 4:11 NRSV

Esther replied, “Everyone knows, the servants and the people of the provinces, that if a man or a woman enters in to the inner court of the King without having been summoned that there is a law which says that all, including the Queen, will be put to death.” Esther 4:11 Gina Brown’s version.

Cousin Mordecai has demanded that Esther make “supplication” before the King.  Esther’s response in today’s urban vernacular would be, “Hold up! Wait a minute!  Do you realize what you are asking me?”  Whether it has been her the time spent away from Mordecai influence, whether she is feeling herself as Queen or she, like Vashti, has grown tired of the male drama the demand that she risks her life has evoked the first law of nature, self-preservation, within her.  Even in the midst of oppressive patriarchy – where is considered to nothing more than a beautiful sex object to the King.  The King in whom she has fallen out of favor with and has no access to.  This same King Mordecai is demanding she supplicate before with a punishment of death.  In her statement I believe I hear Hadassah pushing back and saying, “Give me a minute”, as she grapples with the enormity of the situation at hand.

They continue with the whispering game and relay her message to her cousin who immediately raises up and attempts to exert his maleness, his rightness, his control, his supremacy over her with threatening intimidation.  While the situation is disastrous, and yes someone needs to intercede, there is no admission that he, Mordecai, in his right or in his arrogance, is the cause of the approaching genocide (Est 3:2-5).  All that is recorded are tyrannical threats hurled at Esther that she will not be spared and that her father’s house would perish.  Mordecai dedicates no compassion to his charge that she gives of her life.  He berates her should she not act and he ignores her humanity as he declares rescue for the Jews regardless of her.  And while verse 14 it is considered to be the question which motivated Esther to action,

“Could it be that you are Queen, in this kingdom, at this time for this very reason? (Gina Brown version v:14)”,

I would argue that additionally it is the statement was a classic abuser.  A manipulative tactic by a man who was not expecting “pushback” from his dependent, orphaned, female cousin who to date had been compliant.  Mordecai is a man who was recognizing a shift in the power dynamic.  Even if only temporarily.

No time frame has been given however it would appear that Hadassah / Esther has had a chance to think.  Upon the return of ‘they’ we see she has devised a plan of action and takes control from Mordecai and stands in the power of herself.  While writers have stated she was persuaded by Mordecai’s rant, I want to suggest she got up in her own strength and power for the first time to do what she wills is the best thing to do in the situation.

Esther, a woman in her historical context, in this oppressive male dominated society, Queen of Persia, a passing Jew, reveals her identity and stands in her faith by calling all the Jews in Shushan into fasting for three days and nights (v:16) and second, go before the King without a summons with a consequence of death (v:16).  These were bold moves for a woman, and they were not dictated to her.  She, Queen Esther, chose them.

The power dynamic does a full tilt and the Chinese Whispers game is played one last time and Mordecai receives his charge from Esther (v:17).  Esther is now in charge of a male. A woman has power over a man.

Conclusion

“If I perish, I perish” is a not a casual statement.  It is an exclamation of fierce determination honed within a process of self-discovery and in spite of suffocating oppression there has been an amazing transformation.   Ash, in his commentary states,

“Esther is referred to as Queen fourteen times in the Book of Esther.  Thirteen of those times are after her shift.  There is now a dignity to her and a status above just being Empire.” 

A word of defiance bravely spoken without a glimpse of salvation not by a girl but by a Queen assured of identity, in faith and with initiative.   

Community Message

Esther’s famous words which have been used as a battle cry to rally people, women and particularly women of color to action during many a Woman’s Day services everywhere.  It has also been used quietly as a mediation to ‘overcome’ life’s oppressions.  Kindred of experiences all hoping and fighting for their voice and to be heard.  Queen Esther makes that journey and keeps hope alive for those who are the oppressed, the marginalized, the abused, the forgotten and the victimized both male and female from any race color and creed have a hope because she found her voice.