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Oddly enough, God is mentioned nowhere within Esther. The book seems to be entirely secular. Interpreters might attribute the great coincidences to God, but no reference is made to the deity throughout the text. So what fills this God-shaped hole in the story? Irony and drinking, of course! Drinking, in fact, is part of the Purim tradition, though for obvious reasons is not mentioned in the Itche Kadoozy episode. In fact, three devices drive the plot: eunuchs, drinking, and messengers. It would be possible to chart the story of Esther, with each major advancement of plot marked by one or more of these.
What I am most interested in is issues of scale and status: reaction and overreaction in the book of Esther. Without overreaction and and reaction in kind, this book would convey an entirely different message.
The book of Esther opens with a description of the lavish parties of the Persian empire, with a vividly detailed description unlike anything we've seen up to this point:
There were white cotton curtains and blue hangings tied with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and colored stones. Drinks were served in golden goblets, goblets of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. Drinking was by the flagons, without restraint; for the king had given orders to all the officials of his palace to do as each one desired. Furthermore, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women in the palace of King Ahasuerus.The description reads like the travel writing of today, complete with the status details of drink. The author of this story emphasizes the status symbols of the era - a technique common in journalism today as a way of displaying a characteristic without saying it outright (i.e. corner office, silk tie, college graduate).
(Esther 1.6-9)
The story begins with a party thrown by King Ahasuerus for the common people. The king, under the influence of alcohol, rages when his wife will not appear before the court to display her beauty to the people. This is not a matter that can be swept away - both male and female commoners have seen the queen's disobedience, so that the king's advisers worry that women everywhere will rebel against their wives. They advise him to make a decree that Queen Vashti is to be deposed, so that "all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike." (Ezra 1.20).
In the above introductory story, a single, almost trivial event becomes a huge political issue because of the audience that witnessed the scene. Whether the advisers' fears would have been realized is up for debate, but the public nature of the scene certainly does force the king to take action if he wishes to remain a powerful figure in the eyes of his empire.
An empire-wide search for a new queen yields Esther, a virgin from the city of Susa who has something of a Disney princess upbringing. The beautiful Esther is Jewish (and therefore marginalized), a woman (and therefore further marginalized) and an orphan (and therefore even further marginalized). She is raised by a Benjaminte by the name of Mordecai, who adopts her as his own daughter.
When Esther is chosen, she does not reveal that she is a Jew, which will later play an important part of the story. And so, status: The marginalized Esther comes into the court of King Ahasuerus and becomes the most powerful woman in the empire. In fact, her power ends up playing an important political role. More on that later.
Now another matter of status: Though the Jewish Mordecai discovers and reports a plot to kill the king, he is not rewarded. However, the King's official Haman is promoted for no apparent reason. This creates an ironic tension when Mordecai refuses to bow down before Haman. Though Haman holds a higher rank, Mordecai has saved the king's life and is arguably a greater asset to the kingdom. It also creates a relational tension between Haman and Jews. Haman is so angered by obstinate Mordecai (a Jew!) that he plots to kill every Jew in Ahasuerus' kingdom. This is an overreaction, to say the least.
And so letters are sent out to all the people of the kingdom that Jews are all to be killed and their goods plundered on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (Adar).
Mordecai is understandably distraught over the matter, and begs Esther to prevent the pogrom. Esther does this at great peril to herself; anyone who approaches the king without permission is by default killed, unless the king wishes otherwise.
Meanwhile, Haman plans to have Mordecai hanged, and constructs a gallows 50 cubits (75 feet) high for this purpose. Such a large gallows certainly serves to indicate overreaction. A gallows on such a large scale for a single man...Well, Haman's anger runs hot, and his actions only take place on a large scale.
Things begin to go wrong for Haman when King Ahasuerus suffers insomnia. In order to bring on sleep, the king has the book of records read to him. He discovers the story of Mordecai, and realizing the man was never rewarded, vows to help the man. Just then Haman appears, thinking very highly of himself for his honored position with the king. Ahasuerus asks, "What shall be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?" (Esther 6.6). Haman, thinking the question refers to him, says that the man should be given the king's robes, a horse, and crown, and that he should be paraded through the city with people proclaiming his position of honor.
Much to Haman's chagrin, King Ahasuerus tells him to bestow this honor on Mordecai. Haman must even parade the man through the city, proclaiming the man's honor. Ah, cosmic justice! Haman is brought low by his own pride. Then he is raised high - hanged on the 75-foot high gallows that he constructed in order to hang Mordecai.
This brings up an important question: should Haman have been hanged for actions he only anticipated? The response by modern standards seems harsh, but Haman is responsible for plotting the destruction of all Jews. And those same men who were to exact Haman's orders - they are killed as well, by the Jews. King Ahasuerus sends a second order to all the Jews allowing them to defend their lives and destroy any armed forces that approach them. While the initial order allowing the destruction of the Jews is an overreaction, the second order levels the playing field, perhaps with the idea that two overreactions cancel each other out.
But all this is academic palaver on my part, because the point of the story is that those who were willing to take action against the Jews were destroyed. The Jews proved themselves to be not just competent, but powerful! The "overreaction" first by Mordecai and then by King Ahasueras allows the Jews to demonstrate their power as a force to be reckoned with.
Because of the "God-less" nature of this book, however, we arrive at quite a different interpretation of what this destruction means. According to the book of Esher, the Israelites are a powerful people unto themselves. They do not rely on the power of God. Even those living in the contemporary times of Ezra and Nehemiah asked the Lord for protection. But the Israelites in the book of Esther do not seem to rely on God for protection - and at the very least do not invoke his name. This makes the book peculiar within the biblical canon, but a fascinating story nonetheless.
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