Final Observations About Purim

• The feast of purim and the story of the megillat ester, have not been sufficiently explored.
• Scholars as Graetz, Lewy, Hoschander and others jumped to premature conclusions, ascribing to the the lack of any historical basis, or considering the story a pure invention.
• seems to be a literary creation, based at least on some historical facts:
  • Evidence on a clay tablet which mentions the name "Marduka" as a high-ranking functionary in time of Xerxes I.
  • The name Amestris mentioned by Herototus as the wife of Xerxes I, sounds similar to "Esther".
  • In the there are too many records and details about life in the King's palace.
  • The phenomenon of hatred toward the Jews, in a form unknown until that time, cannot be a pure invention.
• The amazing fact, that in the no reference is made to the Holy Land, except the fact that "mordokhay" is a descendant from those exiled from Jerusalem, proves that the book was not written in the time of the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus or as a reaction to these events, as suggested by one of the commentators.
• The acceptance of the as a book of the Hebrew Cannon may have been influenced by historical events when the Jews were in danger, as in time of the Maccabeans.
• The book of the chronicles of the Kings of Mede and Persia as mentioned in Est. 10:2 was never found, and may have been destroyed by later invasions, for example that of Alexander the Great.
• The story may have been adorned with cultural elements from the Babylonian past, for example the procession of through the town on horseback.
• In our opinion, there is no doubt that the book was written in Susa; archeological excavations of the buildings of the palace of Xerxes prove some of the facts, mentioned in the .
• The may have been edited later, or adorned by the author himself to associate the story with the struggle of Saul against the Amelekite King Agag; in this context we may mention the surname of haman - ha'agagi, and the emphasis in the , that after the Jews slew their enemies, "uvabizzah lo shalehu et-yadam" (but they did not lay their hands on plunder) (Est. 9:10, 15, 16).
  In the verse I Sam. 14:3 we find the Lord's command to Saul: "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass".
  Saul and the people did not obey the command: "But Saul and the people had pity on Agag, and on the best of the sheep, and of the oxen and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them" (I Sam. 15:9).
  iN other words, they plundered all that was valuable in their eyes, with the direct result that the Lord said to Samuel: "I regret that I have set up Saul to be King; for he is turned back from following me, and has not performend my commandments." (I Sam. 15:11).
• An argument against this theory of association with the text in the book of Samuel is that the Sages of the time of the Second Temple, contemporary with , had tended not to be associative in ideas but rather in words, and they would have used the same words and style as used in the book of Samuel to emphasise the association.

• The has contributed many idioms to the Hebrew language through the ages, relatively more than any other book of the Bible, for example:
  • "hafetz biqaro" (delight to honor) (Est. 6:6). Today mainly used to express a situation of corruption.
  • "ad hatsi hamalkhut" (even to half the kingdom) (Est. 5:3,6 7:2). Used to express largesse in promise.
  • " nadeda shena" (could not sleep) (Est. 6:1).
  • "ha gam likhbosh et hammalka 'imi babbayit?" (Will he even assault the queen in my own presence in the house?)(Est. 7:8). To express entrance to a very private matter.
  • "wenahafokh hu" (it was turned to the contrary)(Est. 9:1). Commonly used to denote that the contrary is the truth.
  • "mishne le- (the second to)(Est. 10:1). Today "deputy" thus: "mishne lemankal" (deputy general director).

• This wonderful book of Esther and the Purim feast demands much more study than that wich has been done to the present day, and many mysteries remain insufficiently explained .

  I want to express my gratitude to:

  Dr. Aviv Ekrony, Mr. Aharon Eldad and Esther Carciente, for their useful remarks during the composition of these pages, which gave me sometimes new directions for investigation.
  Gila Ansell-Brauner, for her corrections and editing the English text and her careful proof reading.

  Pinhas Baraq

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