A Maccabean Mordecai: Reading the Book of Esther in the Maccabean Period
Esther - Kristin Joachimsen
Helge Bezold [+]
University of Marburg
Description
In the last decades, several scholars have detached the book of Esther from its Persian setting and argued for a Hellenistic dating. While most exegetes agree that Hebrew Esther was written before the Maccabean revolt (168–160 BCE), features like the large-scale killing of enemies and the institution of Purim as a victory celebration in Esth 9 have raised doubts about this terminus ante quem. Recent commentaries by B. Ego (2017) and J.-D. Macchi (2018) interpret the book to have resulted from a Hasmonean revision of an older work; they focus on the concluding chapters of the book as a secondary expansion from the Maccabean period. This article offers a critical evaluation of these proposals. It suggests that the entire book of Esther could be understood as a fictionalized reflection of the Maccabean revolt and the early years of Hasmonean rule. In building on previous scholarship on Esther and Maccabean literature, it adds further points for comparison, and it discusses important differences between the book of Esther and the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees. Thereby, this article proposes a new historical context for the production of the book of Esther and it opens new ways of interpreting the story’s political and ideological messages.