Esther

Esther is the Jewish woman, also called Hadassah, who becomes queen of Persia and uses her position to avert the destruction of her people. The book that bears her name introduces her as the daughter of Abihail and the orphaned cousin whom Mordecai raised as his own daughter (Esther 2:7), and the text says she was taken into the king's harem in Susa and chosen as queen by Ahasuerus (Esther 2:15–17). Her Hebrew name, Hadassah, means "myrtle"; "Esther" is the name by which the narrative and the Persian court know her, and the text itself gives both, "Hadassah, that is, Esther" (Esther 2:7).

The storyline of the book turns on concealment and reversal. Scripture says Esther kept her Jewish identity secret at Mordecai's instruction (Esther 2:10, 20), that Mordecai's refusal to bow to Haman provoked a decree to destroy the Jews (Esther 3:5–6, 13), and that when Mordecai urged her to intercede she asked for a three-day fast and said, "If I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16). She then approached the king uninvited, found favor, and was spared by the extended golden scepter (Esther 5:1–2); after two banquets she named Haman as "an adversary and an enemy" (Esther 7:6), and the king gave her Haman's house and set Mordecai over it (Esther 8:1–2). A further decree permitted the Jews to defend themselves (Esther 8:11–12), and the deliverance is commemorated in Purim (Esther 9:20–22). Notably, the Hebrew text of the book never names God, though Mordecai's words about deliverance arising "from another place" and the question "who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14) are commonly read as pointing to providence.

As a matter of established history and textual fact, the Greek (Septuagint) form of the book is longer than the Hebrew, containing additions including extended prayers of Mordecai and Esther; these are canonical in the Catholic and Orthodox churches and are printed as an appendix or omitted in Protestant Bibles. The identification of Ahasuerus with the Persian king Xerxes I (early fifth century BC) is the most common scholarly proposal, though it is debated, and no outside source yet confirms the events as narrated. The Hebrew and Greek versions also differ in tone, with the Greek Esther more explicitly pious.

Among traditions, the differences are real. In Jewish practice Esther is read publicly at Purim, and the Megillah is a festival scroll with its own liturgy; rabbinic discussion treats her as righteous and her wine-banquet conduct as debated. Christian readers have often read her as a figure of providence, of the church, or of courageous intercession, and her feast is observed in Catholic and Orthodox calendars, while Protestant interpreters have generally emphasized providence and vocation from Esther 4:14. Those who treat the Greek additions as Scripture read her prayers as part of the inspired text; those who do not regard them as deuterocanonical or as an edifying appendix.

AI-generated reference entry, grounded in the passages where this term appears — history and Scripture stated as such, interpretation labeled as interpretation. Not a substitute for the text itself.