(G. UHLHORN+.)
Bibliography: The chief sources are: Philo, Quod omnia probus liber, xii.-xiii., Mangey's ed., ii. 457-459, and " Apology for the Jews " preserved by Eusebius, Pr<eparatio Evangelica, viii. 11, and Mangey, ii. 632-634; Josephus, War, II., viii. 2-13; Ant. XIII., v. 9, XV. x. 4, 5, XVIII. i. 5 (Josephus was in a position to give accurate notices, since he lived near them); Pliny, Hist. nat. v. 17. Later literature on the Essenes is extensive, and is best given in Schiirer, Geschichte, ii. 556-559, after which follows Schiirer's valuable treatment of the subject, pp. 559-584, Eng. transl. II., ii. 188-218. Consult: Frankel. in Zeitschrift filr die religibsen Interessen des JudenOiums, iii (1846), 441-461; A. Ritschl, in Theologische Jahrbucher, xiv (1855), 315-356; A. Hilgenfeld, Judische Apocalyptik, pp. 243-286, Jena, 1857; idem, Ketzergeschichte des Urchristenthums, pp. 87—149, Leipsic, 1884; J. M. Jost, Geschichte des Judentums, i. 207-214, Leipsic, 1857; C. D. Ginsburg, The Essenes, London, 1864; J. Derenbourg, Histoire de la Palestine, pp. 166-175, 460- 462, Paris, 1867; Clemens, in ZWT, xii (1869), 328-352; H. Ewald, Hist, of Israel, v. 370 sqq., London, 1874; J. B. Lightfoot, Commentary on Colossians, pp. 82-98, 349-419, ib. 1875; H. J. Bestmann, Geschichte der christlichen Sitte, i. 308 sqq., Nordlingen, 1880; P. E. Lucius, Der Essenismus, Strasburg, 1881; A. Lillie, Buddhism in Christendom, or Jesus the Essene, London, 1887; Ohle, inJPT, xiii (1887), 298-344, 376-394, xiv (1888), 221-274, 314-320, 366-387; H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, iii. passim, Leipsic, 1888; T. K. Cheyne, Origin of the Psalter, pp. 418-421, 446-449, London, 1891; J. E. H. Thompson, Books Which Influenced Our Lord, pp. 75-122, 217-224, Edinburgh, 1891; N. I. Weinstein, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Essaer, Vienna, 1892; M. Dedie, Les Essiniens, Montauban, 1895; A. Regeffe, La Secte des Esseniens, Lyons, 1898; DCB, ii. 198-208; DB, i. 767-772; EB, ii. 1396- 1400; JE, v. 224-232.
ESTES, DAVID FOSTER: Baptist; b. at Auburn, Me., Oct. 18, 1851. He was graduated at the University of Vermont in 1871 and Newton Theological Institution in 1874, and studied in Gottingen 1 878-79. He held pastorates at Manchester, Vt., 1874-76, Belfast, Me., 1876-78, and Vergennes, Vt., 1880-83. He was then professor and acting president of Atlanta Baptist College 1883-86, and pastor at Holden, Mass., 1886-91. Since 1891 he has been professor of New Testament interpretation in Colgate University, Hamilton, N. Y. He has written History of Holden, Mass. (Holden, Mass., 1894); An Outline of New Testament Theology (New York, 1900); and Notes on Greek Grammar Illustrated from the New Testament (Hamilton, N. Y., 1906).
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Essenes Esther, Book of
ESTHER, BOOK OF.
The Name (§ 1).
The Story (§ 2).
Character and Date (§ 3).
Historicity (§ 4).
The Festival, Its Name and Origin (§ 5).
Ethics of the Book (§ 6).
Its Canonicity (§ 7).
The Book of Esther takes its name from that of the heroine, which is usually derived from the Persian sitareh ("star"), but is probi. The ably the same as the Babylonian Name. Ishtar. This identification is supported by the evident derivation of the name of her protector Mordecai (Heb. Mordekhay, Septuagint Mardochaios, " one who belongs to the god Marduk "). Though this name is rather strange for a Jew so true to his faith, analogies are not lacking (cf. A. H. Sayce, ' Higher Criticism' andthe Monuments, p. 470, London, 1894), The scene of action is the Persian court in Shushan in the time of Ahasuerus, i.e., Xerxes. The narrative tells how the beautiful 2. The Jewess Hadassah, " Myrtle," came Story. to the court and under the name of Esther was made the consort of the king. In this position she was able to save her people from threatened destruction. A favorite of the king, Haman, having had a dispute with her cousin Mordecai because the latter would not bow down to him, induced the capricious king to fix a day by lot (Persian pur?) on which the Jews throughout the kingdom were to be exterminated. Esther induced the king to favor her people, Haman was executed, and Mordecai took his place in the government. A new edict of the king permitted the Jews to resist the attack, and thus the feared thirteenth of Adar became a day of victory and the fourteenth, in Shushan the fifteenth, a festive day. The festival was called purim from the lots. The institution of the celebration is traced to Mordecai and Esther.
The narrative is harmonious and written with dramatic skill. Chap. ix. 20-28 records that Mordecai reported the events in a letter addressed to the Jews of all the provinces of the kingdom with the request that they celebrate 3. Charac- in future fourteenth and fifteenth ter and Adar as festal days, giving presents Date. to one another and alms to the poor. In this institution of the Purimfestival its name is explained from the lots cast at the beginning of the narrative (iv. 7). This section is a recapitulation of the preceding narrative, forming a fitting end of the roll appointed to be read on the Purim-festival. Verses 29-32 are no doubt duplicates and were inserted later than v. 20-28. The writer drew from oral and probably also from written sources some time after the events, because Ahasuerus and Mordecai belonged to the past (cf. i. 1-2, x. 1 sqq.). These passages refute the assumption of Clement of Alexandria, and Ibn Ezra, wrongly construing ix. 20, 32, that the book was written by Mordecai; and the authorship is undetermined. The time of composition can be fixed only approximately. Although the time of Artaxerxes I. has been suggested, matter and linguistic
character indicate the latest Persian or the Greek period. The language is permeated by Aramaisms and Persisms, and is otherwise in a state of decay. The book must belong to the most recent part of the canon. That the author wrote in Persian has no warrant.
The historicity of the narrative has been stoutly questioned. It has been held that the book contains a number of anachronisms and 4. Histo- misstatements of Persian customs. ricity. Ahasuerus has been identified with Xerxes; and from what is otherwise known of the voluptuous habits and capricious whims, of the sudden alternations between favor and disfavor, and the passionate cruelty and the adventurous pride of this despot, the identification is justifiable. Certain other facts, like the Greek campaigns, tally well with the narrative in Esther. On the other hand the account of Xerxes' marriage after the Greek campaign, as recorded by Herodotus (ix. 108 sqq.), is not in harmony with the story of this book. Esther can not be identified with Amestris, whose lofty position makes impossible the no less distinguished dignity enjoyed by Esther according to the Biblical narrative. The historicity of the narrative is also opposed by the existence of a law according to which the king of the Persians in his selection of a wife was restricted to the (seven) noblest families of the Persians (cf. Herodotus, iii. 84). The question then remains, how far Herodotus is reliable. These narratives were certainly orally transmitted with delight, and moreover passed through a noteworthy literary redaction. In this way inaccuracies and exaggerations might easily creep in. Thus according to ii. 6-7 Esther and Mordecai had been deported with Jehoiachin, whereas from their age they must have been [remote] descendants of the prisoners of his time; the statements in iii. 15, viii. 15 of the sympathy of the inhabitants of Shushan for the Jews are too strong to be true. But the substance of the history neither stands nor falls with these details. The main support of the narrative consists obviously of the Purim-feast itself. Outside of the Book of Esther, the feast is first mentioned II Mace. xv. 36 as " The Day of Mordecai." On its origin and celebration cf. also Josephus, Ant. XL, vi. 13. The book is considered pure fiction by such modern scholars as Zunz (ZDMG, xxvii. 684 sqq.) and E. Reuss (Geschichte des Alten Testaments, pp. 581 sqq. Brunswick, 1892-94).
Since the word pur (" lot "?), the Persian origin of which has not been proved, points to a foreign origin, some have endeavored to trace the Purimfestival as well as the entire narrative to foreign sources: Hitzig recalled the Neo- Arabic phur, " New-year " and the Persian intercalary days Purdeghan ; he thought that the basis was in some event which happened about New- 5. The Fes- year, not in the time of the Achsetival, Its menidffi but under the rule of the Par- Name and thian Arsacidffi, from which language Origin. pur, " lot," may come. Lagarde thought that the Purim-feast is the Persian festival in honor of the dead, Farwardigan, which was celebrated with joy, the Greek name of
Esther, Book of Ethical Culture