Day 16
Esther & Judith will go down as two of my absolute favorite books of the Bible. Maybe they satisfy a need for war and intrigue. But these books could’ve easily been episodes of Game of Thrones. I did a quick reread of Esther, since that’s the book that prompted me to begin this 45 day experiment in the first place. I still enjoyed it. It’s subtle and methodical. Esther is brilliant. Mordecai is ever the people-watcher. Haman is a fool.
Greek Esther caused some feather ruffling. These snippets were random additions to the Book of Esther in greek texts. The reason for this ruffling? Esther is one of two books in the Bible that makes no mention of God. Not once. Greek Esther changes that by adding a level of piety that is jarring. It also de-centers Esther and puts more emphasis on Mordecai. So, great…piety and patriarchy. One of the great things about Esther is how it uses patriarchy against itself. Greek Esther changes that.
Judith. Oh Judith. You are wicked awesome. Here is a good example of piety. You really should just read this book, but here’s the gist of it: Judith doesn’t play around. She does what needs to be done for the safety and success of her people. It’s a story that illustrates that, sometimes, difficult choices need to be made for the greater good. There’ve been terrible applications of that principle, but in this case, she prevented the slaughter of Jerusalem by seducing and killing the Assyrian general, Holofernes. And she was quite the public speaker, too.
Where these texts continue to strike me is at their humanity. A lot of the Bible has so far. But these two tell stories that we could see unfolding in our time. Stories of subtle courage. Stories of bold courage. However it is expressed — subtle or bold, it’s all heroic in the service of the greater good. It left me wondering about the times I could’ve been more courageous in my life. I’m not going to destroy my enemies or assassinate an enemy general (as far as I know), but where do I see Haman and Holofernes in the world around me? Racism? Homophobia? Inequality? I think that list could grow and so would the opportunities for courage.
This was good stuff. Skip Greek Esther. Read the other two.
One Word for Esther: Subtlety
One Word for Greek Esther: Bleh
One Word for Judith: Brilliant
Parts of the Texts That Stayed With Me
- Esth 2, Plain Esther. She wins over the love of Ahasuerus by not even trying. She doesn’t want to be Queen. She doesn’t bother with the frills. And it is that going-against-the-grain that wins him over. I love this detail.
- Esth 7, Haman’s Plan Backfires. Esther was subtle in her approach, finally revealing her Jewishness to the King and reminding him of his love for her. This leads to Haman’s plan backfiring (to persecute the Jews). He dies at the gallows…the same gallows he built for Mordecai, Esther’s uncle.
- Esth 9, Vengeance. So, this is interesting. This story is the basis for the celebration of Purim, a Jewish festival with carnival-like traditions. The story ends with the Jews being given permission to fight back against Hamans’ forces with full force. This story teaches that even amidst great struggle, there can be celebration.
- Jdt 9, Preach! I love Judith’s speeches. This first one of hers is full of piety and also encouragement. I’m not usually a fan of huge displays of piety, but this instance gives courage to a people that are dying of thirst and hunger as the Assyrians besiege their city.
- Jdt 13, Drunk Holofernes. I won’t get into all of the details, because it really is an awesome story. But Judith gets Holofernes so drunk that she easily assassinates him…which leads to…
- Jdt 14 & 16, Another Speech! She brings back his head to the city of Bethulia and the people rejoice. She gives a riveting speech followed by a psalm that is a clarion call if I ever heard one. Judith is just awesome.
This post is part of a lager series where I read the entirety of Hebrew & Christian scriptures in 45 days. Take a look a the original post for more info, as well as links to other reflections on this journey.