Esther’s Power Play
Negotiating Power and Violence in the Ancient Esther Tradition
Abstract
The Hebrew and the two Greek Esther narratives are important witnesses to how ancient Jewish scribes in the Hellenistic and Roman periods used fictional storytelling to negotiate the necessity of violent action to assert Jewish power in the face of imperial domination and existential threats. While previous scholarship has most often focused on moral issues concerning the drastic depiction of the battle scenes, this study aims to demonstrate that the passages describing how the Jews violently fight back against their Persian enemies illustrate the scribal interest in reflecting on questions of Jewish power and superiority. In offering an analysis of the concluding chapters of the three oldest Esther narratives, this paper also brings to light previously unnoticed variations in the depiction of violence which show that questions of power and violence were a point of continuous discussion among scribal groups. Furthermore, close attention to these variants allows for important conclusions about the socio-political and historical contexts in which these texts were likely produced.
Literaturhinweise
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Resistance against Pogroms.” In: Between Cooperation and Hostility: Multiple Identities in Ancient Judaism and the Interaction with Foreign Powers, JAJSup 11, edited by Rainer Albertz and Jakob Wöhrle, 89–114. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013.
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Clines, David J. A. The Esther Scroll: The Story of the Story, JSOT Sup 30. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1984.
Dalley, Stephanie, Esther’s Revenge at Susa: From Sennacherib to Ahasuerus, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
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De Troyer, Kristin. The End of the Alpha Text of Esther: Translation and Narrative Technique in MT 8:1–17,
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Domazakis, Nikolaos. “On the Date of Composition of Additions B and E to LXX Esther.” JSJ
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Ego, Beate, Ester. BK.AT 21. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017.
Eckhardt, Benedikt. Ethnos und Herrschaft: Politische Figurationen judäischer Identität von Antiochos III. bis
Herodes I, SJ 72, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013.
Fox, Michael V. The Redaction of the Books of Esther: On Reading Composite Texts, SBLMS 40. Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1991.
Goldman, Stan. “Narrative and Ethical Ironies in Esther.” JSOT 47 (1990): 15–31.
Honigman, Sylvie. “Commemorative Fictions: Athens (480 B.C.E.), Jerusalem (168 B.C.E.), and
Alexandria (38 C.E.).” HEBAI 10, no. 1 (2021): 77–96.
Macchi, Jean-Daniel. “Le refus, la ruse ou la force. Le rapport au pouvoir dans le livre d’Esther,”
in: Le Pouvoir. Enquêtes dans l’un et l’autre Testament, Lectio divina 248, 195–205, edited by Didier Luciani and André Wénin, Paris: Cerf, 2012.
Macchi, Jean-Daniel. Esther, IEKAT, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2018.
Miller, Tricia. Three Versions of Esther: Their Relationship to Anti-Semitic and Feminist Critique of the Story,
CBET 74, Leuven: Peeters, 2014.
Jobes, Karen H. The Alpha-text of Esther: Its Character and Relationship to the Masoretic Text, SBLDS
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Kahana, Hanna. Esther: Juxtaposition of the Septuagint Translation with the Hebrew Text, CBET 40.
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Kottsieper, Ingo. Zusätze zu Ester und Daniel, ATD Apokryphen 5. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
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Pakkala, Juha. God’s Word Omitted: Omissions in the Transmission of the Hebrew Bible, FRLANT 251,
Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013.
Paton, Lewis B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Esther. Edinburgh: T&T Clark,
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Sharp, Carolyn J. Irony and Meaning in the Hebrew Bible, ISBL, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University
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Stone, Meredith J. Empire and Gender in LXX Esther, EJL 48. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2018.
Vialle, Catherine. “La problématique du pouvoir dans Esther hébreu (tm) et Esther grec (lxx).”
ZAW 124, no. 4 (2012): 586–81.
Wacker, Marie-Theres. “Tödliche Gewalt des Judenhasses – mit tödlicher Gewalt gegen Judenhass?
Hermeneutische Überlegungen zu Est 9.” In: Das Manna fällt auch heute noch: Beiträge zur Geschichte und Theologie des Alten, Ersten Testaments, HBS 44, edited by Frank L. Hossfeld and Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger. Freiburg: Herder, 2004.
Wacker, Marie-Theres. “The Violence of Power and the Power of Violence: Hybrid, Contextual
Perspectives on the Book of Esther.” In: Feminist Frameworks and the Bible: Power, Ambiguity, and Intersectionality, LHBOTS 630, edited by L. Juliana Claasens and Carolyn J. Sharp, 99–115. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017.
Wahl, Harald M. Das Buch Esther: Übersetzung und Kommentar, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009.
Wynn, Kerry H. “The Socio-Historical Contexts of the Recensions of Esther.” PhD diss., Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary, 1990.
Resistance against Pogroms.” In: Between Cooperation and Hostility: Multiple Identities in Ancient Judaism and the Interaction with Foreign Powers, JAJSup 11, edited by Rainer Albertz and Jakob Wöhrle, 89–114. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013.
Arendt, Hanna. On Violence. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1970.
Bellmann, Simon. Politische Theologie im frühen Judentum. Eine Analyse der fünf Versionen des Estherbuches,
BZAW 525, Berlin/Boston, 2020.
Berlin, Adele. Esther: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation, JPS Bible
Commentary, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2001.
Bezold, Helge. “Violence and Empire: Hasmonean Perspectives on Imperial Power and Collective
Violence in the Book of Esther.” HEBAI 10, no. 1 (2021): 45–62.
Bickerman, Elias J. “The Colophon of the Greek Book of Esther.” JBL 63 (1944): 339–62.
Clines, David J. A. The Esther Scroll: The Story of the Story, JSOT Sup 30. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1984.
Dalley, Stephanie, Esther’s Revenge at Susa: From Sennacherib to Ahasuerus, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2007.
De Troyer, Kristin. The End of the Alpha Text of Esther: Translation and Narrative Technique in MT 8:1–17,
LXX 8:1–17, and AT 7:14–41, SCS 48. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000.
Domazakis, Nikolaos. “On the Date of Composition of Additions B and E to LXX Esther.” JSJ
52 (2021): 1–29, https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-BJA10016.
Ego, Beate, Ester. BK.AT 21. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017.
Eckhardt, Benedikt. Ethnos und Herrschaft: Politische Figurationen judäischer Identität von Antiochos III. bis
Herodes I, SJ 72, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013.
Fox, Michael V. The Redaction of the Books of Esther: On Reading Composite Texts, SBLMS 40. Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1991.
Goldman, Stan. “Narrative and Ethical Ironies in Esther.” JSOT 47 (1990): 15–31.
Honigman, Sylvie. “Commemorative Fictions: Athens (480 B.C.E.), Jerusalem (168 B.C.E.), and
Alexandria (38 C.E.).” HEBAI 10, no. 1 (2021): 77–96.
Macchi, Jean-Daniel. “Le refus, la ruse ou la force. Le rapport au pouvoir dans le livre d’Esther,”
in: Le Pouvoir. Enquêtes dans l’un et l’autre Testament, Lectio divina 248, 195–205, edited by Didier Luciani and André Wénin, Paris: Cerf, 2012.
Macchi, Jean-Daniel. Esther, IEKAT, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2018.
Miller, Tricia. Three Versions of Esther: Their Relationship to Anti-Semitic and Feminist Critique of the Story,
CBET 74, Leuven: Peeters, 2014.
Jobes, Karen H. The Alpha-text of Esther: Its Character and Relationship to the Masoretic Text, SBLDS
153, Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996.
Kahana, Hanna. Esther: Juxtaposition of the Septuagint Translation with the Hebrew Text, CBET 40.
Leuven: Peeters, 2005.
Kottsieper, Ingo. Zusätze zu Ester und Daniel, ATD Apokryphen 5. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1998.
Pakkala, Juha. God’s Word Omitted: Omissions in the Transmission of the Hebrew Bible, FRLANT 251,
Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013.
Paton, Lewis B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Esther. Edinburgh: T&T Clark,
1908.
Sharp, Carolyn J. Irony and Meaning in the Hebrew Bible, ISBL, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University
Press, 2009.
Stone, Meredith J. Empire and Gender in LXX Esther, EJL 48. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2018.
Vialle, Catherine. “La problématique du pouvoir dans Esther hébreu (tm) et Esther grec (lxx).”
ZAW 124, no. 4 (2012): 586–81.
Wacker, Marie-Theres. “Tödliche Gewalt des Judenhasses – mit tödlicher Gewalt gegen Judenhass?
Hermeneutische Überlegungen zu Est 9.” In: Das Manna fällt auch heute noch: Beiträge zur Geschichte und Theologie des Alten, Ersten Testaments, HBS 44, edited by Frank L. Hossfeld and Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger. Freiburg: Herder, 2004.
Wacker, Marie-Theres. “The Violence of Power and the Power of Violence: Hybrid, Contextual
Perspectives on the Book of Esther.” In: Feminist Frameworks and the Bible: Power, Ambiguity, and Intersectionality, LHBOTS 630, edited by L. Juliana Claasens and Carolyn J. Sharp, 99–115. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017.
Wahl, Harald M. Das Buch Esther: Übersetzung und Kommentar, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009.
Wynn, Kerry H. “The Socio-Historical Contexts of the Recensions of Esther.” PhD diss., Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary, 1990.
Veröffentlicht
2024-09-05
Zitationsvorschlag
Bezold, H. (2024). Esther’s Power Play: Negotiating Power and Violence in the Ancient Esther Tradition. Judaica. Neue Digitale Folge, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.36950/jndf.2024.1.16
Ausgabe
Rubrik
Literary Powerplays – Jewish Authors and Power in the Graeco-Roman Period
Lizenz
Copyright (c) 2023 Helge Bezol
Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung 4.0 International.
