Misconceptions In Elie Wiesel's The Book Of Esther

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Recommended: The role of esther in the bible

The book of Esther is a story of how Ester a Jewish woman comes to save the Jewish people from destruction by Persia. She is being raised there by her uncle Mordecai. When the King of Persia searches for a wife, she is selected because of her great beauty. Later she wins his favor and becomes his wife. This leads to her being able to influence the King when a plot to kill all of the Jews is revealed. Esther is portrayed as a wise, elegant and gracious woman.
This book is a very interesting story. I had read it many years ago, but I had a few misconceptions about it. When reading it for this class I learned several things. That it took place in the Persian empire not the Babylonian. King Xerxes sent his queen away when she wouldn’t …show more content…

Esther goes to great risk to persuade the King to save the Jewish people. When the King finds out about Haman’s plan he doesn’t know what to do, but he returns to see Haman pleading with Esther. The King accuses Haman of trying to rape his wife and has him executed on the gallows that Haman had built to kill Mordecai. I found it interesting that once a law had been written it was not reversible. Esther came up with an ingenious plan to deal with this issue and save her people. It wraps up with a great battle, resulting in a Jewish victory, and a holiday to commemorate the event.
According to Harpercollins Bible Commentary, the book of Ester has ten chapters in the Jewish and Christian cannon. However in the Septuagint bible the book has sixteen chapters. The extra chapters are used in the Greek and Catholic bibles. Protestants consider the extra six chapters to be part of the Apocrypha (353).
Many of the details in the book of Ester are very historically accurate. It turns out that Xerxes is a real historical figure who lived from 486-465 BC. Some other historical details are the size of the empire, an advanced postal system, the keeping of official diaries for the King and the use of impalement for execution of criminals …show more content…

However, it’s an anonymous book with no serious debate as to who authored it.
There are a few controversies among scholars about the book. The fact that it does not mention God is a big one. Some scholars argue that the lack of reference to God makes this a secular book and not cannon. The violence in the ending of the book has caused much argument as well. Some scholars claim that the focus is not on the slaughter but on the honor Jews receive within the empire. However, Gottwald cites the violence as support for the book taking place during the Maccabean time period (261).
Some scholars think that the main purpose for the book was to establish the Jewish festival of freedom, or Purim. The Jews celebrate this as a time they were scattered all over the earth, but were respected and able to defend themselves. Others have said that it’s a comedy because of the exaggerated characters and events. The 180 day party and the elaborate rituals the candidates for queen went through could be looked at in a comedic

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