Fuller Theological Seminary

Deconstructing Wisdom with Esther 4:14

An Exegesis Paper

Presented in Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Course

OT 567: Esther (English Text)

By

Trapper Garrett

March 18, 2013

Page | 1
 There are 163 verses in the Book of Esther. The 83 rd verse in, which constitutes the

middle of the book based on verse count, is 5:5. Here the king’s command supports the word of

Esther as being authoritative for the kingdom. Just prior to this point in the story, where the king

of Persia does the bidding of a lowly Jewish maiden who has risen to become queen, she has an

exchange with her cousin Mordecai. The exchange itself marks the center of literary events

within the text.1 A Persian noble, Haman, had devised a plot to destroy the Diaspora Jewish

community because Mordecai dishonored him. After hearing of the king’s decree authorizing

Haman’s plot, Mordecai went into the middle of the city to lament wearing sackcloth and ashes

(4:1).

As the decree spread throughout the provinces, Mordecai’s reaction was repeated by

others within the Jewish community. Communally, they supplemented their lamentations with

fasting (4:3). Mordecai’s actions distressed Esther, however, so she sent him some suitable

clothes to wear (4:4). After he asks her to see the king, Esther sends word to Mordecai that

everyone knows death is the punishment for visiting the king uninvited; and that the king had not

called on Esther for a month (4:10-11). Mordecai sends word back to Esther that she will not

escape destruction within the palace (4:12-13). She can choose to keep silent, but deliverance

will just come from somewhere else; and her father’s legacy will die with her. Mordecai then

postulates it may be fate that she is queen when the Jewish community is experiencing such

misfortune (4:14).

Historically speaking, the Book of Esther may simply be a legendary account that helps

justify the observance of Purim as an annual celebration existing prior to the book being edited.

As it stands, it could have been edited from up to three different stories: a tale of Queen Vashti,

1
Ronald W. Pierce, “The Politics of Esther and Mordechai: Courage or Compromise?” Bulletin
for Biblical Research 2 (1992), 78

Page | 2
the tale of a young Jewish girl becoming queen of Persia, and the tale of a conflict between two

courtiers. More likely is that an independent court tale involving the characters of Esther and

Mordecai was popular both didactically and theologically, and therefore linked to Purim. Their

brand of court intrigue set the scene for stories that were captivating audiences during post-exilic

times, with loyal courtiers that exploited their positions for the benefit of their people. 2 Esther

and Mordecai could thus lend the type of material that was easily adaptable for the aims of a

subsequent editor.

Nevertheless, events and characters within the Book of Esther are also arguably located

in the historical context of Xerxes’ rule in Persia between 485 and 465 BCE. The character of

Vashti, who is Ahasueras’ original queen in the story, can be identified as Amestris who was a

daughter of the Otanes. Mordecai could be the accountant Marduka who is recorded as making

an inspection tour of Susa during the final years of Darius’ reign and the beginning of Xerxes’.

There is archaeological evidence that can attest to a character like that of Esther, but her

depiction within the story is likely exaggerated. Haman, however, is the character that

conspicuously escapes any attempt to locate him within the archaeological or historical record.

There is no contemporary evidence that he ever existed.3

Wherever the text is placed historically, all previous approaches to explaining the

peculiarity of the Book of Esther have presupposed a religious viewpoint.4 To interpret otherwise

would perhaps require differing to the idea of re-presenting the text to an alien culture in an alien

manner; and the motivation for such an enterprise seems non-existent. Reading it within the

2
W. Lee Humphreys, “A Life-Style for Diaspora: A Study of the Tales of Esther and Daniel,”
Journal of Biblical Literature 92 (1973), 212-14
3
Edwin M. Yamauchi, “The Archaeological Background of Esther: Archaeological Backgrounds
of the Exilic and Postexilic Era, pt 2,” Bibliotheca Sacra 137 (1980), 103-108
4
Robert Gordis, “Religion, Wisdom and History in the Book of Esther-A New Solution to an
Ancient Crux,” Journal of Biblical Literature 100/3 (1981) 363

Page | 3
Judeo-Christian faith community necessitates such presuppositions, however, because texts

arrive already pregnant with interpretation. The context was predetermined by accessing the

material through a religious text. The transition from a preceding faith community to a

subsequent one cannot be omitted because the text never left. The noumenal state of the text is

only an imagined ideal. The use of empirical methods to establish scientifically an objective

interpretation of the text will fail by presupposing the scientific exactitude of those methods. The

only surety is that there is no surety, with security found in the interchangability and

indeterminacy of interpretation.5

The theology explicated from the Book of Esther, however, is subjective to the reader.

The reader cannot read the text independently in any which way. All interpretations are

constrained by the reader’s lexicon at minimum. For Evangelicals especially, the biblical canon

is the ground from which all theological knowledge springs. Each piece of it must be thought of

as a way to extend that knowledge. Regardless, the text itself is not Truth as a tangible presence.

Truth resides within the text while our advances never exceed approximation. It will always

remain just beyond reach. As we continually attempt to close the distance, meaning becomes

refracted through our own worldview. The space for our interpretation curves until we are

looking back at ourselves. The best reading of the text is the one we can persuade others holds

the most merit.6 To remain convincing, each generation of readers must appropriate meaning

anew in ways that cohere as aesthetically and logically as possible to the narrative arc of

scripture as a whole.

5
Jacques Derrida, “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences,” in Writing
and Difference (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978), 278-93
6
Richard Rorty, “Philosophy without Principles,” in W.J.T. Mitchell, ed., Against Theory
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985), 132-37

Page | 4
 Much has been made of Mordecai’s wisdom, with questions raised as to whether the

Book of Esther should be included within that genre. Scholars reached those conclusions by

performing their own analysis of the literary character and composition of the text. 7 Evidence for

a depiction of applied wisdom was found in the ruthless intrigue that embraces Haman’s attempt

to eradicate the Jews and Mordecai’s efforts to save them. 8 By reading the story that way,

Mordecai occupies center stage as the Cardinal Richelieu that fronts Esther; and she acts as his

able second.9 He becomes the puppeteer who knows the script and how to make the marionettes

dance. Esther cannot be more than a pretty patsy in the protagonist’s scheme. Were such the

case, then the book is titled best as Mordecai.

The search for Mordecai’s wisdom inclines towards a paternalistic mentality. It begins

with Esther being seen as a characterization of unfaithfulness. Mordecai thus becomes the figure

that must deal heavy-handedly with Esther and force her to accept destiny, even through threats

if necessary.10 God was calling; and even though she could not hear it, an answer was required.

Such demands might be questionable, except that Mordecai was a specially guided man with

unusual insight.11 He responds almost brutally and forges Esther into a tool of his sagacity. The

circumstances legitimate his actions though, because Mordecai knew that Esther was dispensable

for God.12 Where she to hesitate in this hour of decision, God would just save the Jews by

another means; but Esther would be suitably punished for her cowardice.13

7
Shemaryahu Talmon, “’Wisdom’ in the Book of Esther,” Vetus Testamentum 13/4 (1963), 419-
455
8
Ibid, 433
9
Ibid, 437, 48 & 49
10
Carl Armerding, Esther: For Such a Time as This (Chicago: Moody Press, 1955), 53-55; Cf.
Carol M. Bechtel, Esther (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002), 49; Pierce, 87
11
Jeanette Lockerbie, Esther: Queen at the Crossroads (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), 36-37
12
Major W. Ian Evans, If I Perish…I Perish (Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House, 1970),
56
13
Cf. Bechtel, 48

Page | 5
 Contrary to wisdom, Esther is intelligent. Throughout the story, she is characterized

positively.14 In the fairy tale world of a text just beyond experienced reality, Esther can abandon

the sagacious precepts of Mordecai to save the Jewish community. Her behavior would then

supersede the universal as a particular, and thereby the normative limitations of society so that

she acts the hero.15 Instead of submitting to her duty in greater cause, Esther acts absurdly by not

relying on wisdom for solace. She is affirmed only in hindsight, and ultimately by God; and thus

travels alone through the realm where the assurance of wisdom has no currency.16

Wisdom as such is restricted to the secondary characters of the story, and those

references are mostly apophatic in demarcating villains by negating their wisdom. 17 Wisdom

within the context of ancient Judaism can be thought of as seeking self-understanding in relation

to things, people, and God. Natural wisdom would attempt to master things for human survival

and well-being by studying natural phenomena in relation to humans and the universe. Juridical

and practical wisdom focused on human relationships in an ordered society or state. Theological

wisdom was concerned with theodicy, thus affirming God as ultimate meaning. 18 In stories that

occur outside of a society’s normative context, wisdom breaks down as a type of primitive

science without a hypothesis. By working paradigmatically from within known parameters, the

scientist can solve hypotheses with proper technique. Devoid of this paradigm, however, science

as such breaks down into improvisational and naturalistic exploration of the unknown.

14
Bush, 394
15
Kevin M. McGeough, “Esther the Hero: Going Beyond ‘Wisdom’ in Heroic Narratives,”
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 70/1 (2008), 63-64
16
Cf. Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (New York: Penguin Books, 2006)
17
Ibid, 44
18
James L. Crenshaw, “Method in Determining Wisdom Influence upon ‘Historical’ Literature,”
Journal of Biblical Literature 88 (1969), 132

Page | 6
 Within their normal lifestyle, the Jews could apply wisdom teachings to their life and

reasonably expect an answer to their problems.19 Even so, they were reserved in relying on it

excessively. It was common for the prophets to denounce wisdom when used to defy Israel and

its God. In the Book of Esther, wisdom is found in the king’s court. From the beginning of the

story (1:13), the wise men are those that can read the age for the king. 20 For the Jewish mind,

wisdom was the ability to cope.21 The king’s officials accomplish this end by denouncing Vashti

and advising a policy that will maintain the current state of affairs within the empire. Wisdom

coming to the king through his official channels helps him cope with the exigencies of ruling an

empire. When events transpire between Haman and Mordecai, the latter has a post at the king’s

gate and a position within the royal administration. Mordecai is thus one of the king’s men. Even

Mordecai’s lament is not in protest of the king. It is simply the general sense of grief that was

shared by the entire Jewish community.22

If Mordecai where the main person responsible for saving the Jews, his actions would

come at the exclusion of Esther’s by locating resolution to the conflict with the normative

workings of royal court itself. The overarching story witnesses to a deep skepticism of the

Persian imperial regime, however, and that attitude even extends more generally to monarchy as

a concept.23 The need to be saved by a woman would never have been a necessity. If this was a

heathen story, then the reader could expect the cliché plot of a wise hero saving an endangered

group. As Esther belongs to the Biblical narrative, however, the expectation becomes that

19
Ibid, 65
20
Cf. Gerhard Von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1981), 16
21
Andre Caquot, “Israelite Perceptions of Wisdom and Strength in the Light of the Ras Shamra
Texts,” in Israelite Wisdom: Theological and Literary Essays in Honor of Samuel Terrien, Walter A
Brueggemann, John G. Gammie, W. Lee Humphreys and James M. Ward, eds. (New York: Scholars
Press, 1978), 25-26
22
Fredric Bush, Ruth/Esther (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996), 394; Pierce, 85
23
Jon D. Levenson, Esther (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1997), 12

Page | 7
Yahweh delivers in ways that are unexpected from the perspective of human culture. In the

parable of the Prodigal Son, God hikes up his skirt like a woman and runs to save the

protagonist.24 The positive thesis of wisdom therefore remains insufficient.25

Divine guidance of human events is only an implicit element of the book. 26 This should

be obvious to the point of irrelevance, however, because the Book of Esther forms part of the

scriptural witness that both the Jewish and Christian faith communities believe reveals God’s

actions. However palpable we may believe that presence to be though, it never has a particular

instance. This fact is accentuated by the absence of references to angels and the afterlife, both

popular topics in the world contemporaneous to the biblical setting. Even prayer as means of

petitioning God during the perilous times that demand it is conspicuously absent. The only

normative religious practice that occurs explicitly within the story is fasting. 27 Relative to our

own religious context, we may only presuppose for the characters a faith in the providential

guidance of history. The text just does not support this idea in any objective fashion. What the

characters themselves do exude is a singular faith in the efficacy of fasting.28

Fasting could express dismay over impending disaster, but it was objectively meaningless

as an expression alone. It required an attachment to subjective practices. When engaged formally

for the sake of appearing pious, the act of fasting could obscure its own intention and even forget

the intervention of God that it calls to mind. 29 In an attempt to prevent Haman’s plot from

occurring, Mordecai mechanistically engages in the rites of mourning that coincide with fasting.

He wisely differs to popular practices that should otherwise influence the occurrence of events.

24
Kenneth E. Bailey, “The Pursuing Father” Christianity Today, 42/12 (1998), 34-40
25
Gordis, 368 & 374
26
Bush, 334
27
Carey A. Moore, Esther (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1971), XXXII
28
Cf. Moore, XXXIII
29
Joyce G. Baldwin, Esther (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1984), 81 & 83

Page | 8
Esther attempts to intervene, however, by clothing him with suitable garments. The protagonist

of the story thereby rejects the path that Mordecai has chosen as the wise means for reversing the

situation.

The place from which Mordecai proclaims deliverance will spring must not be a veiled

reference to God’s presence. Divine guidance of the characters is an understanding from within

the reader’s world, but not the textual world of the characters themselves.30 The later Talmudic

practice of using Place as a substitute designation for God would imply that Mordecai saw

deliverance coming from another God. If his entire statement was an allusion to God, then that

deliverance contrasts with Esther’s actions by indicating it is not from God. 31 Such

interpretations could be rejected to favor the assumption of Mordecai’s piety; but his wisdom is a

substitute for reliance on the variability of divine Providence. When Mordecai refers to another

quarter as being where deliverance of the Jews will come from, he refers to the conception of an

alternative plan.32

Esther remains a religious book, but it shows that God’s actions in history are not

motivated by how much better some people are relative to all others. 33 The efficaciousness of

wisdom as such would need to be abstracted from any particular context or allegiance. Doing

this, however, creates incongruence with the idea that the wise and good can prevail over witless

evildoers. For wisdom to be religious and moral as well, it must make recourse to the source of

its morality within God to transcend the particularity of a defined community. What is good for

30
Cf. Bush, 334
31
Bush, 396
32
Cf. Levenson, 81
33
Bernhard W. Anderson, “The Place of the Book of Esther in the Christian Bible,” Journal of
Religion 30 (1950), 41

Page | 9
just one community alone has no bearing on its later critics or admirers; and the actions of

individuals within that community cannot be justified by outsiders.

There is no subjective foundation for one community to stand in judgment over the

actions of another. To do as much would require a priori a transcendent category that would

apply towards that end. In a pragmatic world devoid of objective or intrinsic properties, it is

Haman’s actions that make the most sense. If he is to kill Mordecai the acknowledged Jew, then

it is functionally best to leave no Jew that can tell the tale or seek revenge. Readers of the Book

of Esther can only adjudge Ahasuerus as being witless and Haman as being wicked in a world

where God defines wisdom. 34 This is exactly what Jewish and Christian readers do when they

interpret the book form within their contexts to newly appropriate its message.

Thematically, the Book of Esther can be characterized as the reversal of events. 35 The

reversal occurs when Mordecai relents by wondering aloud whether Esther’s position is meant

for the troubles faced by the Jewish community. Mordecai is tacitly resigning his ability to

resolve the situation and therefore displaying the extent of wisdom. He threatens Esther first, but

then reverses course. The Book of Esther becomes an inversion of wisdom, and thus a prophetic

cry against the Jewish community being overly reliant on the capacities of wisdom to solve

problems. In a world infatuated by such mechanistic techniques, showing the failings of wisdom

creates its other as a viable option. The Book of Esther deconstructs the wisdom. Later readers

can then appropriate this characterization from within their own religious contexts and conclude

that the wise choice is to rely on God’s salvation even when to do so contravenes the tenets of

wisdom.

34
Cf. Talmon, esp. 443 & 448
35
Levenson, 8

Page | 10
Bibliography

Anderson, Bernhard W., “The Place of the Book of Esther in the Christian Bible,” Journal of
Religion 30 (1950) 32-43

Armerding, Carl, Esther: For Such a Time as This, Chicago: Moody Press, 1955

Page | 11
Bailey, Kenneth E., “The Pursuing Father” Christianity Today, 42/12 (1998), 34-40

Baldwin, Joyce G., Esther, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1984

Bechtel, Carol M., Esther, Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002

Bush, Fredric, Ruth/Esther, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996

Caquot, Andre, “Israelite Perceptions of Wisdom and Strength in the Light of the Ras Shamra
Texts,” in Israelite Wisdom: Theological and Literary Essays in Honor of Samuel
Terrien, Brueggemann, Walter A, Gammie, John G., Humphreys, W. Lee and Ward,
James M., eds., New York: Scholars Press, 1978, 25-33

Crenshaw, James L., “Method in Determining Wisdom Influence upon ‘Historical’ Literature,”
Journal of Biblical Literature 88 (1969) 129-142

Derrida, Jacques “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” in Writing
and Difference (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978), 278-93

Evans, Major W. Ian, If I Perish…I Perish, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House, 1970

Gordis, Robert, “Religion, Wisdom and History in the Book of Esther-A New Solution to an
Ancient Crux,” Journal of Biblical Literature 100/3 (1981) 359-388

Humphreys, W. Lee, “A Life-Style for Diaspora: A Study of the Tales of Esther and Daniel,”
Journal of Biblical Literature 92 (1973), 211-223

Kierkegaard, Soren, Fear and Trembling, New York: Penguin Books, 2006

Levenson, Jon D., Esther, Louisville: John Knox Press, 1997

Lockerbie, Jeanette, Esther: Queen at the Crossroads, Chicago: Moody Press, 1974

McGeough, Kevin M., “Esther the Hero: Going Beyond ‘Wisdom’ in Heroic Narratives,”
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 70/1 (2008) 44-65

Moore, Carey A., Esther, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1971

Pierce, Ronald W., “The Politics of Esther and Mordechai: Courage or Compromise?” Bulletin
for Biblical Research 2 (1992), 75-89

Richard Rorty, “Philosophy without Principles,” in W.J.T. Mitchell, ed., Against Theory
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985), 132-37

Talmon, Shemaryahu, “’Wisdom’ in the Book of Esther,” Vetus Testamentum 13/4 (1963), 419-
455

Page | 12
Von Rad, Gerhard, Wisdom in Israel, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1981

Yamauchi, Edwin M., “The Archaeological Background of Esther: Archaeological Backgrounds

of the Exilic and Postexilic Era, pt 2,” Bibliotheca Sacra 137 (1980), 99-117

Page | 13