ESTHER, BOOK OP

of how the Jewish feast of PurimX' Lots ') first originated . Xerxes, king of the Medes and Persians, gives a great feast to the nobles and princes of the 127 provinces over which he rules; the description of the decorations in the palace garden on this occasion recalls the language of the Arabian Nights. Vashti, the queen, also gives a feast to her women. On the seventh day of the feast the king commands Vashti to appear before the princes in order that they may see her beauty. Upon her refusing to obey, the king is advised to divorce her. In her place, Esther, one of Vashti's maidens, becomes queen. Esther is the adopted daughter of a Jew named Mordecal, who had been the means of saving the king from the hands of assassins. But Mordecai falls out with the court favourite, Haman, on account of hia refusing to bow down and do reverence to the latter. Haman resolves to avenge himself for this insult; he has lots cast in order to find out which is the most suitable day for presenting a petition to the king; the day being appointed, the petition is presented and granted, the promised payment of ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury {Est 3') no doubt con-tributing towards this. The petition was that a royal decree should be put forth to the effect that all Jews were to be killed, and their belongings treated as spoil. On this becoming known, there is great grief amongthe Jews. Esther, instructed by Mordecai, undertakes to interpose for her people before the king. She invites both the king and Haman to a banquet, and repeats the invita-tion for the next day. Haman, believing himself to be in favour with the royal couple, determines to gratify hia hatred for Mordecai in a special way, and prepares a gallows on which to hang him (5"). In the night after the first banquet, Ahasuerus, being unable to sleep, commands that the book of records of the chronicles be brought; in these he finds the account of Mordecai's former service, which has never been rewarded. Haman is sent for, and the king asks him what should be done to the man whom the king delights to honour; Haman thinking that it is he himself who is uppermost in the king'a mind, describes how such a man should be honoured. The king thereupon directs that all that Haman has said is to be done to Mordecai. Haman returns in grief to his house. While taking counsel there with his friends, the king's chamberlains come to escort him to the queen's second banquet (6"). During this Esther makes her petition to the king on behalf of her people, as well as for her own life, which is threatened, for the royal decree is directed against all Jews and Jewesses within his domains; she also dis-closes Haman's plot against Mordecai. The king, as the result of this, orders Haman to be hanged on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, the latter receiving the honours which had before belonged to Haman (ch. 7). Esther then has letters sent in all directions in order to avert the threatened destruction of her people; but the attempt is yet made by the enemies of the Jews to carry out Haman's intentions. The Jews defend themselves with success, and a great feast is held on the 14th of Adar, on which the Jews 'rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.' Moreover, two days of feasting are appointed to be observed for all time; they are called Purim, because of the lot (pur) which Haman cast for the destruction of the Jews (chs. 8. 9). The book concludes with a further reference to the power of Ahasuerus and the greatness of his favourite, Mordecai (ch. 10).

4. Historicity of the book. — There are very few modern scholars who are able to regard this book as containing history; at the most it may be said that it is a historical romance, i.e. that a few historical data have been utilized for constructing the tale. The main reasons for this conclusion are, that the book is full of improbabilities; that it is so transparently written for specific purposes, namely, the glorification of the Jewish nation, and as a means of expressing Jewish hatred of

240

ETHICS

and contempt for Gentiles (see also §5); that a 'strictly historical interpretation of the narrative is beset with difficulties ' ; that the facts it purports to record receive no substantiation from such books as Chron., Ezr., Neh., Dan., Sirach, or Philo (of. Hastings' DB s.v.). Besides this, there is the artificial way in which the book is put together: the method of presenting the various scenes in the drama is in the style of the writer of fiction, not in that of the historian.

5. Furim. — The main purpose for which the book was written was ostensibly to explain the origin of, as well as to give the authority for, the continued observance of the Feast of Purim; though it must be confessed that the book does not really throw any light on the origin of this feast. Some scholars are in favour of a Persian origin, others, with perhaps greater justification, a Babylonian. The names of the chief characters in the book seem certainly to be corrupted forms of Baby-lonian and Elamite deities, namely, Haman =Hamman, Mordecai =Marduk, Esther =Ishtar; while Vashti is the name of an Elamite god or goddess (so Jensen). Thus we should have the Babylonian Marduk and Ishtar on the one hand, the Elamite Haman and Vashti, on the other. Purim may, in this case, have been, as Jensen suggests, a feast commemorating the victory of Babylonian over Elamite gods which was taken over and adapted by the Jews. In this case the origin of the name Purim would be sought in the Babylonian word puru, which means a 'small round stone,' i.e. a lot. But the connexion between the feast and its name is not clear; indeed, it must be confessed that the mystery attaching to the name Purim has not yet been un-ravelled. W. O. E. Oesteklet.

ESYELUS.— 1 Es l»=Jehiel (2 Ch 35').

EXAM. — An altogether obscure place name, applied to a rock in a cleft of which Samson took refuge (Jg 15'), whence he was dislodged by the Judahites (v."), and therefore presumably in Judahite territory (cf. 1 Ch 4=). Also applied to a village in the tribe of Simeon (1 Ch 4"), and a town fortified by Rehoboam (2 Ch ll^). Whether there are here one or two or three places, and where it or they were, are unanswered questions.

R. A. S. Macalistek.

ETHAM.— Ex 132", Nu 33=; the next station to Succoth in the Exodus. The name is not known In Egyptian. It lay ' in the edge of the wilderness, ' evidently at the E. end of the Wady Tumilat, and probably northward of the 'Red Sea,' whether that means the Bitter Lakes or the Gulf of Suez. F. Ll. Griffith.

ETHAN.— 1. 'The Ezrahlte' of I K 4^1 and Ps 89 (title). In the first of these passages he is mentioned along with other contemporaries (?) of Solomon, who were all surpassed in wisdom by the Jewish monarch. In 1 Ch 25 he is said to have been a Judtean of the family of Zerah, which is prob. another form of Eisrah (hence the patronymic Earahite). Instead of 'the Ezrahite' it has been proposed to render 'ezrahl of 1 K 431 'the native,' i.e. the Israelite, in opposition to some of the other wise men named, who were foreigners. 2. An ancestor of Asaph (1 Ch 6«). In v.a he is called Joah. 3. The eponymous ancestor of a guild of Temple-singers (1 Ch 6" 15"- " etc).

ETHANIM (1 K 8^).— See Time.

ETHAKUS.— One of the 'swift scribes' who wrote to the dictation of Ezra (2 Es 1^).

ETHBAAL ('with Baal,' i.e. enjoying his favour and protection). — King of the Sidonians, and father of Jezebel, wife of Ahab king of Israel (1 K 16").

ETHER (Jos 15« 19').— A town of Judah noticed with Libnah, apparently near the plain of PhiUstia, given to Simeon, and near Rimmon. The site is un-known.

ETHICS.— The present article will be confined to Biblical Ethics. As there is no systematic presentation