The Skeptics Annotated Bible (412 page)

25 And
I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

(13.25)
“I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.“

26
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?
yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless
even him did outlandish women cause to sin.

(13.26)
“Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? … even him did outlandish women cause to sin.”

27
Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?

(13.27)
“Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?”

28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

30 Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business;

31 And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

Then said Esther … let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. And the king commanded it so to be done … and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
—
Esther 9.13-14

Esther is one of the two books in the Bible in which God is not even mentioned (the other is the Song of Solomon).

Maybe that’s why some Bible believers, such as Martin Luther, believed that it should be excluded from the Bible. In Luther’s case, however, it probably had more to do with his extreme antisemitism. Because the point of the Book of Esther, if it has a point, is this: God loves Jews more than everyone else and anyone who has ever had a bad thought about them should be killed. (And Luther had lots of bad thoughts about Jews.)

There is a whole series of killings in Esther, all of them to avenge antisemitism. But since the Book of Esther does not mention God’s name, it’s difficult to blame him directly for these killings. Still, since the fact that Esther is included in the Bible, the God of the Bible must approve of the killings, insofar as a nonexistent being can approve of anything.

The Book of Esther also has an important message for women: your job in life is to look pretty and to please, honor, and obey men. If that means dancing naked in front of your husband’s drunken guests, dance naked. Be an Esther, not a Vashti. (Which is, of course, bad advice. Vashti is the hero of the Book of Esther and she gets my vote for the best person in the Bible.)

Here are some highlights:

• King Ahasuerus throws a party and encourages his guests to drink to excess. Then, when they are all drunk, he orders Queen Vashti to show her stuff before him and his guests.
  1.7-11
  
• Queen Vashti (the real heroine of the Book of Esther) refuses to display herself in front of the king’s drunken guests.
  1.7-12
  
• For her refusal, Vashti is stripped of her crown and came “no more before king.”
  1.13-19
  
• Because of Vashti’s disobedience the king decrees that “all the wives shall give to their husbands honor” and “that every man should bear rule over his own house.”
  1.20-22
  
• “All the fair young virgins” throughout the kingdom are brought before the king and the one that “pleaseth” him the most will replace Queen Vashti.
  2.2-4
  
• Esther wins the please-the-king babe contest.
  2.8-9
  
• But since women are dirty, she must be “purified” for twelve months before she can be made queen.
  2.12
  
• Esther has two men hung on a tree.
  2.23
  
• She has Haman and his ten sons hung.
  7.10
  ,
  9.13
  
• At Esther’s request, the king orders everyone in the empire who planned to kill Jews to be killed by Jews, along with their wives and children.
  8.1-19
  
• The Jews kill all those who ever had a bad thought toward them, along with their Jew-hating families.
  9.1-16
  

1
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)

2 That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,

3 In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him:

4 When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.

5 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace;

6 Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.

(1.7-11) King Ahasuerus throws a party and encourages his guests to drink to excess. Then, when they are all drunk, he orders Queen Vashti to show her stuff before him and his guests.

7 And
they gave them drink in vessels of gold
, (the vessels being diverse one from another,)
and royal wine in abundance
, according to the state of the king.

(1.7)
“They gave them drink in vessels of gold … and royal wine in abundance.”

8 And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.

9 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.

10 On the seventh day,
when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded
Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,

11 To bring
Vashti the queen
before the king with the crown royal,
to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.

(1.10-11) “When the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded … Vashti the queen … to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.”

(1.12-19) Vashti refuses to entertain the king’s drunken guests by dancing before them. For this she is no longer to be queen, to be replaced by someone better (prettier?).

12
But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment
by his chamberlains:
therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.

(1.12)
“But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment … therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.”

13
Then the king said to the wise men
, which knew the times, (for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment:

14 And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king’s face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;)

15
What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king
Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?

(1.13-15)
“Then the king said to the wise men … What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king?”

16 And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.