Esther: The Hidden and the Revealed

While read aloud during the celebration of Purim, Megillah Esther constantly shifts between the hidden and the revealed with plot twists so unexpected that there is only one explanation: It is the Creator working behind the scenes. And, it is His nation, the Jewish People, who are tasked with revealing G-d’s HIDDEN presence in the world. Those who hate G-d are said to be driven by the spirit of Amalek who wants to blot out belief in G-d and the nation of Israel. With that in mind, here is a catalogue of the HIDDEN things in the Purim narrative....

Megillat Esther begins with a massive six month party to acknowledge the power, the vastness of the Persian Empire and its enormous riches. In the scroll of Esther, the Persian ruler is called Achashverosh by the Jews of Sushan, the capital city. It was actually a pun on his title, Artachshasthra which the Greeks rendered as Artaxerxes. Loosely translated, the name Achashverosh means an "unthinking head".

The king inherited much of his wealth from his predecessor, Cyrus (Koresh), who is said to have discovered the sunken treasure of Nebuchadnezzar HIDDEN in the depths of the Euphrates River.

King Achashverosh was celebrating because he believed that the 70 years of punishment prophesied for the Jews had passed and the Temple was still not rebuilt. But he had miscalculated. The 70 years was HIDDEN from him. He should have counted from the destruction of the Temple in 3338 on the Jewish Calendar.

When the intoxicated king demanded that his queen, Vashti, appear in public wearing only her crown, she refused. In a fit of rage, he had her executed. Later, his counselors advised him to select a new queen from the general populace. They organized a royal beauty pageant, inviting both willing and unwilling contestants to the palace:

The news of this decree reached Mordechai, a respected and prominent member of the Jewish community, in Shushan:

“He was foster father to Hadassah—that is, Esther—his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was shapely and beautiful; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.”  - Esther 2:7

It was then, that Mordechai instructed Esther to keep her Jewish identity Hidden.

Achashverosh was completely smitten with Esther.

In the Zohar, Esther is associated with a HIDDEN Divine Presence. Her beauty is described as more than simply physical:

• A radiance of inner light

• A vessel for Divine purpose

• Hidden glory beneath concealment

According Seder Olam (Jewish Chronology), five years after Esther became queen, the prime minister—a virulent anti-Semite known as Haman—warned Achashverosh that “ there is a certain People” that threatened the stability of the empire, using it as reason to annihilate the Jews. Though motivated by an intense hatred for Mordechai, Haman kept those feelings HIDDEN from the king.

Mordechai gained favor with Achashverosh because he had discovered a HIDDEN plot to assassinate the king.

When Achashverosh asked Haman how to honor “the man in whom the king delighted,” Achashverosh kept the identity of Mordechai HIDDEN until after Haman had finished advising him on this matter. Mordechai was placed on a royal steed, dressed in regal finery and led through the streets of Shushan--as Haman had suggested—thinking he would be the one honored in that fashion.

Hoping to foil Haman's plot to wipe out the Jews, Esther invited him to a private dinner with the king but kept her intentions HIDDEN from Haman.

During the meal she reveals that she is Jewish and that Haman’s decree would wipe out all the Jews in Persia. An enraged Achashverosh orders him to the gallows.

Haman’s face is HIDDEN by a hood as he is led away.

At the request of Esther, Achashverosh allows the new prime minister, Mordechai, to issue a proclamation that all the Jews in the Persian Empire were permitted to slay those seeking to kill them on the 13th and 14th of Adar.

Afterwards, Mordechai and Esther asked the Jews to annually recall the victory over their enemies and to celebrate by sending gifts to each other.

For over thousands of years, the Persians have observed their New Year called Nowrooz. It lasts for 13 days and coincides with the Spring Equinox, usually March 20th. Due to the 19-year cycle of the Hebrew calendar, the celebration of Purim falls on or near these dates, as well. On the Wednesday prior to Nowrooz, a related holiday called Harshanbe Zuri (Scarlett Wednesday) is held and the people wear disguises, go door to door banging spoons on pans and offer gifts to the poor.

In Megillah Esther, when Haman's proclamation to destroy the Jews was announced Mordechai covered his head in ashes while walking the streets of Shushan bewailing the fate of the Jews. In the aforementioned Persian holiday, a figure called Haji Firuz dances through the streets, his face covered in soot!

Daniel the prophet who lived in the days of Persian rule is identified, in the Midrash, as figure called Hatach, in Megillah Esther. In the book of Daniel, he warned of, “those who seek to change the times and seasons.” History’s shifting calendars have led to confusion caused by the Greeks wanting to insure certain events were HIDDEN, making it nearly impossible to locate the Purim story in Persian history. They conflated personal names with the royal titles and artificially expanded the number of kings who ruled Persia. The Greeks promoted this fabrication of history adding roughly 150 years to their annals. (See Sir Isaac Newton’s The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms)

Alexander Hool in his brilliant The Challenge of Jewish History identifies Cambyses as the Persian monarch we know as Achashverosh in Megillah Esther. Historians tell us that Cambyses was known as a drunk to the Persians (see Herodotus' Book Three) who was plagued with mental issues. According to linguist Isaac Mozeson, the name Achashverosh translates as “unthinking head”.

The personal name of Achashverosh was Kambatua. The name Cambyses comes from the Greeks. Herotodus describes the behavior of Cambyses as something akin to being bi-polar. Cambyses may be the only ruler, from the Achaemenid dynasties who had his first queen executed. He remarried a woman that the Persian annals describe as beautiful and educated. She was known as Hatossa which sounds very much like Queen Esther's real name Hadassah.

Chazal, the Jewish Sages tell us that the son of Esther/Hadassah is known to us today as Darius the Great. On the famous Behistun Inscription, he is credited for stopping an empire-wide revolt that began before his reign. That revolt began on the 14th of Adar, the day Purim is celebrated.

A final word about Haman, the evil vizier from Megillah Esther: He was a direct descendant of Amalek whose worldview still runs amok in every Anti-Semite who wants to destroy the Jews and to keep the knowledge of G-d HIDDEN.

Amalek wants the truth about Purim, Esther, Mordechai and every event in the history of the Jewish People HIDDEN. This is why the Jewish People are commanded by G-d to "blot out the memory of Amalek." (Deut. 25:19). It is Midda K’negged Midda (measure for measure) punishment for Amalek's attempts to blot out the knowledge of G-d.

Purim Sameach!