The most well-known Jewish holiday is probably either Passover or Hanukkah. Passover is prescribed in the Bible, while Hanukkah commemorates events that happened after the Hebrew Bible was written. These two holidays are similar, however, since they both celebrate divine deliverance of the Israelite people from oppressive foreign powers, and since they both focus on Israelite destiny within the land of Israel. Purim, however, celebrates Jewish survival in the Exile without reference the land of Israel itself.
Setting the Stage: Who Were Ahasuerus and Vashti?
Purim’s backstory is found in the biblical book of Esther and occurs in Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire at the time. It opens upon a scene of Ahasuerus, the emperor, partying with the nobles and governors of his realm. Josephus identified Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes I, but many later historians believe him to be Xerxes I. Regardless, the book of Esther presents him as impetuous and easily manipulated.
Esther does not appear in the story until after Ahasuerus’s wife Vashti refuses her husband’s order to display her beauty before his party guests. Vashti’s defiance is cause for great concern among Ahasuerus’s counselors who fear that her behavior could precipitate a movement of wifely insubordination across the kingdom, resulting in societal breakdown. To circumvent such a catastrophe, they propose the king declare throughout the empire that Vashti would be expelled from the palace. This vacates the queen’s throne, and the stage is set for Esther’s entry into the story.
Who Was Esther?
Though sometimes lost on modern readers, much of the book of Esther is clearly meant to be humorous. The story continues after Vashti’s expulsion with a pacified Ahasuerus wondering what to do about the new vacancy in the queenly throne. Apparently he had not considered this. He turns, then, from consorting with the “wise men” who had feared a kingdom-wide wifely rebellion to the “young men” who served in his court. The solution these young men propose is that all of the most beautiful women of Ahasuerus’s realm should be gathered in Susa. Ahasuerus would then choose from among them who would be the next queen, while the rest would become a part of his harem. The idea appeals to Ahasuerus, and he makes the decree.
Esther, an orphan under the guardianship of her wise cousin Mordecai, was among those called. Mordecai tells Esther or conceal her Jewish identity, and Esther follows his advice.
How Did Mordecai Save Ahasuerus?
Mordecai, who can be considered Esther’s co-protagonist in the story of Purim, is said to have taken up sitting near the palace gate after Esther was selected as queen. His goal was to be accessible to Esther. While there, he overhears two of the king’s servants conspiring an assassination. Mordecai relays the news to Esther, who informs her husband. The plot is foiled, and the conspirators are hanged. This event was recorded in the king’s records, along with Mordecai’s name, though Ahasuerus does not make Mordecai’s personal acquaintance.
Enter Haman, “Enemy of the Jews”
A man named Haman enters in the next scene of the story. Having been appointed chief official by Ahasuerus, Haman expects everyone to bow to him as he passes in the streets of Susa. But Mordecai refuses. Identified as an “Agagite,” Haman was perhaps a member of a clan of the Amalekites, one of Israel’s ancient enemies. Agag was the name of an Amalekite king who, along with his compatriots, had allegedly been exterminated by the Israelites in Israel. The reader wonders if this is meant to be ironic, since this Agagite, the infuriated Haman, soon begins to conspire the extermination of the Jews of Persia.
Presenting the Jews as a nuisance in the king’s realm, Haman is able to persuade Ahasuerus to command their extermination by popular massacre. A day is set for the purge—the thirteenth of Adar, the twelfth month. On that day all Jews under Persian rule were to be killed and their property plundered.
Esther’s Courage
Learning of the scheme, Mordecai approaches Esther again. But this time it is the Jews, not Ahasuerus, whom he seeks to save. Esther is the only Jew in the right position to reveal to the king that the people Haman seeks to exterminate—an act for which the king had already given permission—were her own.
The book of Esther never mentions God or divine activity overtly, but Mordecai seems to allude to the divine when he suggests that, perhaps, Esther’s entry into the imperial palace was somehow intended for “such a time as this.”
The most famous scene from the book emerges when Esther summons the courage to enter the king’s chamber unannounced. If he would not raise his scepter—as such an impetuous monarch might not on the wrong day—Esther would be executed. Happily, Esther wins Ahasuerus’s favor, and he not only spares her life but promises to grant whatever request she might have.
What Were the Two Banquet Invitations?
Instead of revealing Haman’s plot right away, Esther invites Ahasuerus to a feast, and requests that Haman also be invited. At the end of the feast, Esther explains, she would make a special request of the king. Ahasuerus accepts, and attends the banquet. But after eating and drinking his fill Esther asks that he and Haman come the following day to a second feast—after which she would finally reveal the reason she had approached the king.
The interim between these two feasts serves at least two purposes in the narrative. First, it allows for suspense to build and, second, it allows for Haman’s character to develop. Haman is elated for having been invited to the banquets, assuming that his inclusion was meant to honor him above all of the other officials in the king’s realm. Haman’s self-aggrandizement, however, would be turned upon his own head.
A Long Night: What Was Haman’s Project and Ahasuerus’s Command?
In a single night between Esther’s two banquets, Haman is reminded of his disdain for Mordecai and decides to build an enormous gallows on which he would be hung. Meanwhile, the narrative shifts to Ahasuerus’s night chamber where the king is restlessly unable to sleep. He is troubled by the memory that a man had once saved him from assassination by revealing a plot against him, yet the man had never been properly rewarded for his loyalty. He commands that the royal records be read before him, and learns that the man was Mordecai—someone whom Ahasuerus had not personally met.
Summoning Haman, his most trusted advisor, Ahasuerus asks him what ought to be done for a person he wishes to honor. Assuming the person to be himself, Haman suggests he be paraded publicly throughout Susa and declared worthy of the king’s honor. But to his dismay, Ahasuerus immediately commands that Haman personally do this for Mordecai.
How Did Esther Save Her People?
Having been obliged to praise publicly the man he most hated, a disgruntled Haman returns to the palace to attend Esther’s second banquet. It is at this second dinner that Esther reveals Haman’s plot to Ahasuerus. The king is so upset he leaves the room, and Haman falls upon Esther to beg for mercy. Ahasuerus returns to find Haman in this position, and immediately commands that Haman be hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
Haman, who is labeled “the enemy of the Jews” repeatedly in the story, is thus killed in the manner he had planned for Mordecai, and Ahasuerus turns Haman’s household over to his Jewish rival.
While Esther asks that Ahasuerus rescind his decree that the Jews should be massacred, the narrative goes on to say that, instead, the Jews were permitted to arm themselves and to annihilate any person or group who would attack them.
A Reversal of Fortunes?
Thus, though “the enemy of the Jews” had planned that the thirteenth of Adar would the day the Jews would be eliminated from the Persian Empire, it turned out to be a day in which the Jews slew their enemies instead—a total of seventy-five thousand people according to the book of Esther. Haman’s ten sons were also hanged, even as he had been.
Mordecai’s supplanting of Haman, thus, becomes a harbinger in the story of this final reversal of fortunes in the story of Purim. “The enemy of the Jews,” personified by Haman, becomes the representative of all those who had or would seek Jewish annihilation. By Mordecai’s decree, the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar became days of celebration for Jews in remembrance of their deliverance from their enemies. Unlike in other biblical stories, their survival depends ultimately on their own planning and initiative; no divine intervention is evident.
Luck, Genius, or Divine Providence?
“Purim” is derived from an Akkadian word that means “lot.” This refers to Haman’s use of the random process of “casting of lots” to choose the day for the Jews’ destruction. The name itself, thus, highlights the ironies in the story.
Theologically, Esther poses a puzzle for religious readers of the Bible. Apart from Song of Songs, it is the only book of the Bible that fails to mention divine involvement, and the Jewish characters themselves are not presented as religiously pious. Some scholars wonder if it is for this reason that Esther is the only book from the Hebrew Bible that is absent from the Dead Sea Scrolls collection.
Mordecai and Esther’s shrewdness is cast against the bumbling pompousness of Haman and Ahasuerus in the story, which suggests that their genius is to be credited for the outcome. Still, religious readers propose that divine providence is evidenced in and through the movements of the story’s human characters.
How Is Purim Celebrated Today?
Jews gather in synagogues around the world to read the book of Esther the first night of Purim. Whenever Haman’s name is spoken during the reading, they boo loudly and spin wooden or plastic noise-makers. Some Jews dress up in costumes for Purim. Street parades are common, and a party atmosphere pervades. Heavy drinking is also common, with some arguing that it is a requirement according to rabbinic tradition. Three-cornered pastries called “hamantaschen” (“Haman’s pockets”) are popular among Ashkenazi Jews. Generosity and gift-giving are also important parts of Purim celebration.
Many of the traditions of modern-day Purim began after biblical times, and knowledge of their precise origins has been lost. Since the days of the Persian Empire, the Jews have survived many attempts at their annihilation. Purim has, thus, come to memorialize more than a single event in Jewish history. It reminds Jews of their resilience and that, in the face of Haman-like enemies, a reversal of fortunes is always possible.
