Persian Dream Interpretation

Ancient dream interpretation can be a very strange thing, as ancient Egyptian dream manuals seem mostly opaque. The final verses of the Septuagint version of the book of Esther provide an interpretation of Mordecai's dream from the initial chapter of Esther. What is interesting about the interpretation is that Mordecai is finally able to interpret his enigmatic dream after the events have already occurred.

Prophecy is often like that. The prophecy is often not so much post hoc (or after the fact) as the interpretation is. Often only after things have happened are we able to figure out that God had warned us of them beforehand, but we were too busy paying attention to the wrong things.

Crucify Him!

In the book of Esther, Haman decides to humiliate Mordecai before all the people by having a fifty cubit high gallows erected in his yard upon which to hang Mordecai. At about twenty-five meters high, the gallows would be hard to miss and should have been able to be seen for some distance. The Septuagint version just has it as a wooden object. When Haman's plot is exposed, he ends up the victim of his own planned punishment. What is interesting, however, is what the king says in pronouncing his punishment:

σταυρωθήτω (Esther 7:9 LXX).

This is exactly the same thing said when Pilate asked the Jews what they wanted him to do with Jesus (Matthew 27:22-23):

Crucify him!

(Technically, I suppose it should be: "Let him be crucified!")

This seems a bit unusual since the Persians were not particularly noted for crucifixion, and the Hebrew version just says that he should be hung.

In modern times, when the book of Esther is read at Purim, the reading is interactive with appropriate boos and hisses for Haman. One can wonder, given the odd wording in the Septuagint, if the book of Esther (whether in the Septuagint or not) might have influenced the crowd on the original Good Friday. Jesus had noted that "they have called the master of the house Beelzebub" (Matthew 10:25) so equating him with the devil as they did Haman (Esther 7:4; 8:1 LXX) is really not a stretch.

The Devil in the King's Court

The Septuagint version of Esther 7:4 has Esther say something significantly different than the Hebrew version does:

The devil is not worthy of the king's court.

The term for devil here is simply διάβολος, the standard word for devil (originally meaning the accuser) but a fairly rare word in the Septuagint. The term is applied to Haman, as is clear in Esther 8:1, where he is called "Haman, the devil."

As one of the comparatively rare usages of the term in the Septuagint, the usage has some unmistakable coloring on New Testament usage of the term. The fact that the Septuagint version of Esther influences the New Testament, makes it worth looking at Haman and why he is called a devil.

Esther uses the term when she exposes Haman's plot to the king. In the first part of Esther 7:4, she outlines the consequences of Haman's plot:

I and my people are forced into destruction, and plunder, and slavery, we and our children to servants and maidservants and I overheard, for the devil is not worthy of the king's court. (Esther 7:4 LXX).

Incidentally, the term translated plunder is a form of the Greek word used in Philippians 2:6 that the King James translators gave as robbery and for which I prefer the word usurpation when it says that Jesus did not think it was robbery to be equal with God.

So what did Haman do that makes him a devil?

• He was a high-level administrator in the king's palace. 
• He plotted to get rid of God's people because he did not like their behavior.
• He persuaded the king to sign the decree to kill the Jews.
• He personally had a vendetta against Mordecai and tried to get rid of him and make a public example of him.
• He used flattery to obtain his position.
• He sought veneration from the people.
• He sought to usurp the royal prerogatives.
• He misused his power.
• He tried to hide what he was really doing.
• He denied his part in the plot when confronted.
• He tried to force the queen.

It is also worth noting that he flew into hysterics when Mordecai was honored by the king rather than him.

Haman's motivation in his plot seems to have been jealousy. He wanted Mordecai to bow down to him (which was idolatry and Mordecai knew it) and he wanted the honor and glory which were given to Mordecai. Haman's motivations are similar to those of Iago, the villain of Shakespere's Othello, who gives the reason for his treachery as:

I
have told thee often, and I retell thee again and
again, I hate the Moor. (Shakespeare, Othello I.iii.364-366.)

This is repeated only a few lines later: "I hate the Moor." (Shakespeare, Othello I.iii.386.) And so Iago takes advantage since

The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by th' nose
As asses are. (Shakespeare, Othello I.iii.399-402.)

For the Septuagint version of Esther, as in Othello, the plotting middle management plays the part of the devil. Such devils are not worthy of the court.

Godless Esther?

It has often been noted that the book of Esther in the Old Testament has no mention of God. That may be true of the Hebrew text but it is definitely not true of the Septuagint version of Esther, which has several additional passages not in the Hebrew Bible. Here is a quote from one of them, Esther's prayer on finding out about the execution order:

O God, who has power over all things, hear the voice of those who have been rendered hopeless, and save us from the hand of the evil-doers, and save me from my fear. (Esther 4:17z LXX).

There are obviously two ways of looking at this situation. Either the Greek version is the original and the Hebrew version has deliberately removed references to God, or the Hebrew version is the original and the Greek version added the piety back in.

In the ancient world it is rare for anything to be written without reference to a god of some sort. The Hebrew version of Esther is an anomaly, and not just in the Hebrew Bible.

A Small Detail

Sometimes all it takes is a small detail to completely cast a story in a new light. Consider the story of Vashti in the first chapter of Esther. The Septuagint version of Esther 1:5 adds two words τοῦ γάμου making the occasion when all of this occurred not just any feast but Artaxerxes' marriage feast. Vashti thus becomes either the bashful blushing bride who blew it or the headstrong feminist who missed it.

The Other Purim Plot

The Septuagint version of Esther is noted for its additions. The first chapter, for example, has a dozen and a half verses missing from the Masoretic text. These verses tell of an apocalyptic dream that Mordecai has warning him of the danger that the king was in. This warning enables Mordecai to be in a position where he can overhear the conspiracy against the king:

And Mordecai snuck quietly into the courtyard with Gabatha and Tharra, the two eunuchs of the king show were guarding the courtyard. So he heard their plans and discovered their plots and he learned that they were preparing their hands to overthrow Artaxerxes, the king, and he disclosed to the king concerning them (Esther 1:1m-n LXX).

In this case, the king does not get the revelation or dream about the plot. Instead, it comes to "a Jewish man living in the city of Susa" (Esther 1:1b LXX), an ordinary man living an ordinary life, who just happens to listen and respond when God inspires him.

The inspiration he receives leads him to be where he needs to become a credible witness of the plot to assassinate the king.

Note that Mordecai is somehow able to get access to the king and report what is happening personally (Esther 1:1n LXX), in spite of Artaxerxes ruling over 127 countries (Esther 1:1s LXX). The conspirators were part of the government administration. Can one imagine what might have happened if Mordecai had to go through bureaucratic channels, especially if those channels ran through Gabatha or Tharra?

Gabatha and Tharra were trusted members of the administration. If asked, they would have claimed they were loyal to the administration that they were plotting to overthrow.

Conspiracies of this sort cannot be treated like typical petty problems patiently pushed through the bureaucratic machine. They require different means to be thwarted.