Annals of the kings of Media and Persia (10:2). This closing formula is identical to that used in 1 and 2 Kings (e.g., 1 Kings 14:29; 15:31) and is undoubtedly intended to give this narrative a sense of continuity with the chronicles of Israelite history. On the Persian annals, see comments on 2:23.
Second in rank (10:3). On possible identifications for this position, see comments on 3:1.
Baldwin, Joyce G. Esther. TOTC. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1984. Brief but insightful work from an evangelical scholar.
Berlin, Adele. Esther. JPS Commentary. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2001. Exposition that focuses on the literary aspects of the text.
Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2002. A comprehensive and authoritative study of the Persian Empire.
Bush, Frederic. Ruth, Esther. WBC. Waco, Tex.: Word, 1996. Very thorough with extensive bibliography. Especially good on linguistic questions.
Clines, David J. A. NCBC. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984. Incisive comments encompassing a broad range of historical and theological issues.
Craig, Kenneth. Reading Esther: A Case Study for the Literary Carnivalesque. Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995. Presents the argument for reading Esther as humor.
Fox, M. V. Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther. Studies in Biblical Personalities. Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1991. A text critical and literary study that explores the ambiguities of the book.
Jobes, Karen M. Esther. NIVAC. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999. Readable, practical study that brings its messages into contemporary situations.
Levenson, Jon D. Esther. OTL. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997. Good recent study from a top Jewish scholar.
Moore, C. A. Esther. AB. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1971. Older authoritative work that is still valuable.
Wills, L. M. The Jew in the Court of a Foreign King: Ancient Jewish Court Legends. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1990. Influential exploration of the court tale genre.
Yamauchi, Edwin. Persia and the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990. An overview of the history and culture of Persia, especially as it relates to the Old Testament.
1. See J. S. Wright, “The Historicity of the Book of Esther,” in New Perspectives on the Old Testament, ed. J. B. Payne (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1970), 37–47; W. Shea, “Esther and History,” AUSS 14 (1976): 227–46; E. Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 237–39.
2. So, e.g., C. A. Moore, Esther (AB; New York: Doubleday, 1971), xxxv.
3. See W. L. Humphreys, “A Lifestyle for Diaspora: A Study of the Tales of Esther and Daniel,” JBL 92 (1973): 211–23; Lawrence M. Wills, The Jew in the Court of the Foreign King: Ancient Jewish Court Legends (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1990).
4. The Aramaic text of Ahiqar, discovered in Egypt in 1906, may be read in ANET, 427–32.
5. See L. M. Wills, The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press, 1995), 96.
6. While many scholars have noted the satirical elements of Esther, the concept of humor has been especially explored by Y. T. Radday, “Esther with Humour,” in On Humor and the Comic in the Hebrew Bible, ed. Y. T. Radday et al. (JSOTSup 92; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990): 295–313; J. D. Levenson, Esther: A Commentary (OTL; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997); and A. Berlin, Esther (JPS; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2001).
7. See B. R. Foster, “Humor and Wit in the Ancient Near East,” CANE, 4:2459–69, and the studies cited there.
8. For translation, see B. R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature (Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 1993), 831–32.
9. ANET, 318–19.
10. Xenophon, Anabasis 1.7.6. On the extent of the Persian Empire, see P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire, trans. P. T. Daniels (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2002), 175–83; J. M. Cook, “The Rise of Achaemenids and the Establishment of Their Empire,” CHI, 2:200–91, esp. 244–67.
11. Herodotus 3.94–106.
12. See K. A. Kitchen, “Cush,” NBD, 249.
13. Further descriptions of Susa may be found in A. Olmstead, A History of the Persian Empire (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1948), 163–71; E. Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 298–303; P. Miroschedji, “Susa,” ABD, 4:244–45.
14. Strabo, Geographica 15.3.10–11.
15. So described by the twelfth-century traveler Benjamin of Tudela, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Travels in the Middle Ages, trans. M. N. Adler (London: Phillip Feldheim, 1907), 51–53.
16. Reported by Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 4.146e.
17. ANET, 558.
18. Herodotus 7.8 states that Xerxes gave a banquet for his “war council”; K. H. Jobes, Esther (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 60, suggests this may be the banquet spoken of here.
19. Herodotus 3.95.
20. Strabo, Geographica 15.3.9.
21. See A. L. Oppenheim, “On Royal Gardens in Mesopotamia,” JNES 24 (1965): 328–33; K. L. Gleason, “Gardens in Preclassical Times,” OEANE (New York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), 2:382–85.
22. Against Apion 1.141.
23. E.g., Xenophon, Anabasis 1.4.10; 2.4.14.
24. Xenophon, Oeconomicus 4.20–24.
25. For more on Persian gardens, see E. Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 332–34; P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 201–2, 442–44.
26. Oppenheim, “Royal Gardens,” 330–31.
27. Further descriptions of the palace complex may be found in Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, 166–71; Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 293–300; Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 165–68; Miroschedji, “Susa,” 4:244–45; E. Porada, “Classical Achaemenian Architecture and Sculpture,” CHI, 2:793–827, esp. 806–11.
28. Porada, “Classical Achaemenian Architecture and Sculpture,” 2:798.
29. Herodotus 1.135.
30. See W. E. Staples, “Marble,” IDB, 3:262; D. R. Bowes, “Marble,” ZPEB, 4:71–72.
31. See further R. Boucharlat, “Susa under Achaemenid Rule,” in J. Curtis, ed., Mesopotamia and Iran in the Persian Period: Conquest and Imperialism 559–331 BC (London: British Museum, 1997), 54–67.
32. Herodotus 9.82.
33. C. Kondoleon and L. A. Roussin, “Mosaics,” OEANE, 4:50–55.
34. So P. Haupt, “Critical Notes on Esther,” AJSL 24 (1907–1908): 97–186, esp. 105–6.
35. Ibid.
36. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.8, 18; Strabo, Geographica 15.3.19.
37. Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 294–97.
38. So Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, 79–80.
39. Josephus, Ant. 11.188.
40. So D. J. A. Clines, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 278.
41. So R. Gordis, “Religion, Wisdom, and History in the Book of Esther—A New Solution to an Ancient Crux,” JBL 100 (1981): 359–88.
42. So Wright, “The Historicity of the Book of Esther”; W. Shea, “Esther and History,” AUSS 14 (1976): 227–46. These efforts have not been altogether successful.
43. As suggested by Clines, Esther, 259.
44. Herodotus 5.18.
45. R. T. Hallock, Persepolis Fortification Tablets (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1969).
46. The order for wine is recorded in ibid., PF 1795.
47. The role of eunuchs in Assyria is discussed in detail by A. K. Grayson, “Eunuchs in Power: Their Role in the Assyrian Bureaucracy,” Vom Alten Orient zum Alten Testament: Festschrift für Wolfram Freiherrn von Soden zum 85. Geburtstag am 19. Juni 1993, ed. M. Dietrich and O. Loretz (AOAT; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1995), 85–98.
48. An extensive discussion of eunuchs’ responsibilities is found in Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 268–77.
49. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 7.5.60–64.
50. Herodotus 3.77.
51. Herodotus 8.103–5.
52. See M. Dandamayev, Iranians in Achamenid Babylonia (Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies 6; Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 1992), 64–65.
53. On the Babylonian tribute, see Herodotus 3.92; on the other lands, see 3.97.
54. Ibid., 6.9, 32.
55. Josephus, Ant. 4.290–91.
56. Plutarch, Artaxerxes 5.6; Themistocles 26.5 imply that the queen was cloistered; but see M. Brosius, Women in Ancient Persia, 539–331 B.C. (Oxford Classical Monographs; Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), 83–93.
57. On the general status of aristocratic women in Persian society, see ibid., 83–182.
58. For more on the role of concubines, see note on 2:14.
59. Herodotus 3.31.
60. Ibid., 3.67–88.
61. Xenophon, Anabasis 6.4. See further Cook, “The Rise of Achaemenids,” 2:234.
62. Herodotus 3.119.
63. See Aelian, Historical Miscellany 12.1.
64. Herodotus 9.107.
65. Brosius, Women in Ancient Persia, 180–82; Hallock, Persepolis Fortification Tablets, passim.
66. Herodotus 5.52; 8.98.
67. Ibid., 8.98.
68. See J. C. Greenfield, “Aramaic in the Achamaenid Empire,” CHI, 2:698–713.
69. Herodotus 3.84.
70. See Wright, “The Historicity of the Book of Esther,” 38.
71. Brosius, Women in Ancient Persia, 64–68.
72. G. J. Wenham, “Betûlâ: A Girl of Marriageable Age,” VT 22 (1972): 326–48.
73. On the Persian tradition and its exceptions, see Brosius, Women in Ancient Persia, 32–33.
74. The “women’s quarters” were identified by M. Dieulafoy, Revue des études juives (1888): 255–56; but see, e.g., Moore, Esther, 18.
75. See B. Porten, The Archives of Elephantine: The Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony (Berkeley: Univ. of California, 1968), 173–79.
76. On the possible significance of Daniel’s companions’ names, see J. J. Collins, Daniel (Hermenia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 140–41.
77. See A. S. Yahuda, “The Meaning of the Name Esther,” JRAS (1946): 174–76.
78. A good summary may be found in F. W. Knobloch, “Adoption,” ABD, 1:76–79.
79. See, e.g., the Greek translation of Esther (LXX), which has Esther state that she has not eaten the king’s food (14:17).
80. Plutarch, Life of Artaxerxes 27.1; Themistocles 26.5.
81. On admitting men to the harem, see Herodotus 3.130; on Otanes’ access to his daughter, see Herodotus 3.68.
82. See M. Zohary, Plants of the Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1982), 200.
83. W. F. Albright, “The Lachish Cosmetic Burner and Esther 2:12, ” in A Light Unto My Path: Old Testament Essays in Honor of Jacob M. Myers, ed. H. N. Bream (Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press, 1974), 25–32, argues that the incense burners excavated at Lachish were used in this fashion, but many commentators have pointed out that there is no evidence that ancient peoples actually used this method to perfume themselves.
84. See Heraclides, Athenaeus 12.514b.
85. See Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 283–84.
86. Further information and references may be found in J. A. Thompson, “Concubine,” NBD, 216.
87. As observed by Herodotus 1.135.
88. Ibid., 3.1.
89. Thus the Code of Hammurabi, §170.
90. Diodorus 17.77.6; Plutarch, Artaxerxes, 27.2.
91. So Plutarch, Artaxerxes 27.1; Diodorus 17.77.5; see also Strabo, Geographica 15.3.17.
92. For a detailed discussion of Persian concubinage and harem life, see Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 278–83.
93. On Assyrian harems, see K. Deller, “The Assyrian Eunuchs and Their Predecessors,” Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East, ed. K. Watanabe (Heidelberg: Universitatsverlag C. Winter, 1999), 303–12. For Persian practices, see L. Llewellyn-Jones, “Eunuchs and the Harem in Achaemenid Persia” in S. Tougher, ed., Eunuchs in Antiquity and Beyond (London/Swansea: Duckworth/Classical Press of Wales, 2002), 19–49.
94. See further F. Rochberg-Halton and J. C. VanderKam, “Calendars,” ABD, 1:810–20.
95. On the circumstances surrounding his return, see further Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 539–42.
96. Herodotus 3.67.
97. See the description in Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 298–300.
98. Cf. Dan. 2:49, where Daniel is said to have “remained in the king’s gate,” meaning that he served in the king’s court. The LXX of this verse states explicitly that Mordecai resided in “the king’s court.”
99. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.1.6.
100. On parents and children in Israel, see C. H. Wright, “Family,” ABD, 2:761–68; J. Blenkinsopp, “The Family in First Temple Israel,” in Families in Ancient Israel, ed. G. Perdue, J. Blenkinsopp, J. J. Collins, C. Meyers (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997), 48–103, esp. 76–78.
101. See R. Westbrook, “Punishments and Crimes,” ABD, 5:546–56; ANET, 276.
102. See Deut. 21:22–23; Herodotus 3.125.
103. Herodotus 7.33, 194. See also Clines, Esther, 292–93; T. Thornton, “The Crucifixion of Haman and the Scandal of the Cross,” JTS 37 (1986): 419–26.
104. Herodotus 8.90.
105. See R. Zadok, “On the Historical Background of the Book of Esther,” Biblische Notizen 24 (1984): 18–19.
106. A discussion of these sources can be found in Moore, Esther, 35.
107. Sometimes, a Persian official seemed to function as the king’s “right-hand man,” but it might be the chiliarch under one king and the cupbearer under another. Cf. Cook, “The Rise of Achaemenids,” 2:232–33.
108. On various officers in the Achaemenid court, see ibid., 2:232–238; on the limitation of the power of the chiliarch, see Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 222–23, 258–59.
109. See Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, 59.
110. So Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 343–344.
111. Herodotus 1.134.
112. For sources of this story, see M. Fox, Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther (Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1991), 43–44.
113. See W. Hallo, “The First Purim,” BA 46 (1983): 19–26.
114. Herodotus 3.128; Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.6.46; 4.5.55.
115. See A. M. Kitz, “The Hebrew Terminology of Lot Casting and its Ancient Near Eastern Context, “ CBQ 62 (2000): 207–14.
116. Descriptions and pictures may be found in Hallo, “First Purim.”
117. See H. Sancisi-Weerdenberg, “Darius I and the Persian Empire,” CANE, 2:1035–50.
118. Herodotus 6.6.
119. See further Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 194.
120. See his Merneptah Stele, ANET, 376–78.
121. Herodotus 3.79.
122. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.8.13.
123. See M. Vogelstein “Bakshish for Bagoas?” JQR 33 (1943): 89–92.
124. See Herodotus 3.95; Moore, Esther, 39.
125. See L. E. Toombs, “Signet,” IDB, 4.347–48.
126. On the use of seals, see M. Gibson and R. Biggs, eds., Seals and Sealing in the Ancient Near East (Malibu, CA: Undena, 1977); esp. R. T. Hallock, “The Use of Seals on the Persepolis Fortifications Tablets,” 127–33.
127. Herodotus 1.137.
128. Published by W. Hinz, Altiranische Funde und Forschungen (Berlin: DeGruyter, 1969), 48–49.
129. m. Sanh. 7:5; cf. Mark 14:63.
130. D. R. Hillers, “A Convention in Hebrew Literature: The Reaction to Bad News,” ZAW 77 (1965): 86–90.
131. b. Šabb. 64a.
132. See J. A. Thompson, “Sackcloth,” NBD, 1034; P. J. King and L. E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 372–73; Hillers, “A Convention in Hebrew Literature.”
133. Herodotus 3.117.
134. Ibid., 3.119.
135. See further Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 298–300.
136. So Clines, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, 301.
137. See, e.g., A. Demsky and M. Bar-Ilan, “Writing in Ancient Israel and Early Judaism,” Compendia Rerum Iudicarum ad Novum Testamentum, Sec. II, Vol. I: Mikra, ed. M. J. Mulder (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrikson, 2004), 1–38.
138. Ctesias 54; see further Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 285.
139. Brosius, Women in Ancient Persia, 146–63.
140. Herodotus 3.118.
141. See comments on 3:1; Nepos, Conon 3.2–3; Plutarch, Themistocles 27.2–7.
142. So Moore, Esther, 49; IVPBBC-OT, 488.
143. See the illustrations in Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 209, 210, 218, 219; ANEP, 463.
144. See Herodotus 3.134;7.3.
145. See Brosius, Women in Ancient Persia, 108–9.
146. See J. Behm, “νηστεία,” TDNT, 4:924–92.
147. See M. N. Dhalla, History of Zoroastrianism (Bombay: K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, 1963), 345–46.
148. A. G. Belben, “Fasting,” NBD, 364.
149. See Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 305.
150. See the fuller description in Brosius, Women in Ancient Persia, 85–86.
151. Herodotus 5.24.
152. So D. J. A. Clines, The Esther Scroll: The Story of the Story (JSOTSup 30; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1984), 304.
153. Herodotus 9.107.
154. Xenophon, Anabasis 1.9.14–22; Cyropaedia 8.2.7–8.
155. Plutarch, Artaxerxes 15.2; Xenophon, Anabasis 1.8.29; see Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 305–6.
156. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.3.13.
157. Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 216–17.
158. Plutarch, Artaxerxes 5.
159. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.3.23.
160. Plutarch, Themistocles 29.5.
161. Moore, Esther, 65.
162. See M. A. Dandamayev, “Slavery, Ancient Near East, Old Testament,” ABD, 6:58–65; I. Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East (New York: Oxford, 1949).
163. Cf. Ex. 21:6; Deut. 15:16–17. For many references to branding in Persia, see Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 458.
164. On the castration of slaves, see Herodotus 6.32; 8.105. For the use of slaves as concubines, see Plutarch, Themistocles 26.4; Herodotus 1.135; 6.19, 32; 9.76.
165. See further K. A. Kitchen, “Slavery,” NBD, 1110–11; M. A. Dandamayev and V. G. Lukonin, The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989), 152–77.
166. Herodotus 6.32.
167. See Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 297; J. Boardman, Persia and the West (London: Thames and Hudson, 2000), 199–200.
168. Heraclides, Athenaeus 12.538c.
169. Plutarch, Artaxerxes 27.1.
170. See Clines, Esther, 312.
171. As noted by Moore, Esther, 72.
172. The suggestion, by G. Gerleman, Esther (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1973), 123–24, is adopted by Clines, Esther, 313; but see the misgivings of F. Bush, Ruth/Esther (WBC; Dallas: Word, 1996), 424.
173. Herodotus 3.128–129.
174. Ant. 1.17.
175. So, e.g., A. Ungnad, “Keilinschriftliche Beiträge zum Buch Esra und Esther,” ZAW 59 (1942/43): 219; R. Gordis, “Religion, Wisdom, and History in the Book of Esther—A New Solution to an Ancient Crux,” JBL 100 (1981): 359–88; S. H. Horn, “Mordecai: A Historical Problem,” BibRes 9 (1964): 14–25.
176. Thus D. J. A. Clines, “In Quest of the Historical Mordecai,” VT 41 (1991): 130–36.
177. Dandamayev and Lukonin, Culture and Social Institutions, 124.
178. See D. Janzen, “The ‘Mission’ of Ezra and the Persian-Period Temple Community,” JBL 119 (2000): 619–43.
179. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 8.3.13.
180. See Briant, Cyrus to Alexander, 191–94.
181. Herodotus 8.118.
182. b. Qidd. 75b–76a.
183. Studies of Jewish proselytism almost invariably focus on the later Second Temple period, for which sources are more plentiful and evidence more easily interpreted. See, e.g., S. J. D. Cohen, “Crossing the Boundary and Becoming Jewish,” HTR 82 (1989): 13–33; S. McKnight, A Light among the Gentiles: Jewish Missionary Activity in the Second Temple Period (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991).
184. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.2.15.
185. Dandamayev and Lukonin, Culture and Social Institutions, 223.
186. See J. Duchesne-Guillemin, “Le noms des eunuques d’Assuérus,” Le Museon 66 (1953): 108.
187. See further Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible, 238.
188. Josephus, Ant. 11.292.
189. m. Meg. 1.1.
190. b. Meg. 7b.
191. See the discussion in Clines, Esther, 263–66.
192. The idea originated with H. Zimmerman, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprunge des Purimfestes,” ZAW 11 (1891): 157–69, and P. Jensen, “Elamitische Eigennamen: Ein Beitrag zur Erklärung der elamitischen Inschriften,” WZKM 6 (1892): 47–70, 209–26.
193. So J. Lewy, “The Feast of the 14th Day of Adar,” HUCA 14 (1939): 127–51; H. Ringgren, “Esther and Purim,” SEÅ 20 (1956): 5–24.