Introduction
The story of Esther is the story behind the Jewish feast of Purim on the 14th of Adar, which falls in February-March. The tale is set in the 480s BC, following Persia’s conquest of Babylon, when the Kings of Persia became lords over Jewish people scattered right across the ancient Near East.
AT a banquet to close a great exhibition for the princes of his empire, a tipsy King Ahasuerus ordered Vashti, his lovely Queen, to parade herself for his guests’ gratification. When Vashti refused to be exhibited, Ahasuerus, fearing a wave of female insubordination, pointedly divorced her, and crowned Esther, Persia’s most beautiful virgin, in her stead.
Esther’s standing with Ahasuerus rose further when her cousin Mordecai exposed a plot to assassinate the King. His loyalty was duly noted in the national Chronicles; yet when the King appointed a viceroy from among his household, it was not Mordecai, his Queen’s kinsman, but Haman.
All the household now bowed before Haman — all except Mordecai.
Haman’s spies had told him that Mordecai was Jewish, so after prostrating himself before Ahasuerus the indignant viceroy accused the whole Jewish race of sedition, and recommended seizing their wealth and then slaying every last one. Ahasuerus, knowing nothing of Esther’s background, consented, and the day was fixed for the thirteenth of Adar.
The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament (known as the Septuagint) translates Ahasuerus’s name as Artaxerxes, meaning Artaxerxes I (r. 465-424 BC) or Artaxerxes II (r. 404-358 BC). However, Rabbinic and modern Western scholarship are agreed that Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BC), the King who lost to the Greeks at The Battle of Salamis, is the Persian King of the story.
Précis
Esther was a young Jewish girl in the days when the Persians ruled over Babylon and Jerusalem, selected as Queen of Persia by Xerxes I. She and her cousin Mordecai initially won the King’s favour, but the new viceroy Haman hated Mordecai, and organised a persecution of the Kingdom’s Jewish population as an excuse to murder him. (57 / 60 words)
Esther was a young Jewish girl in the days when the Persians ruled over Babylon and Jerusalem, selected as Queen of Persia by Xerxes I. She and her cousin Mordecai initially won the King’s favour, but the new viceroy Haman hated Mordecai, and organised a persecution of the Kingdom’s Jewish population as an excuse to murder him.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, besides, if, may, must, not, otherwise, ought.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did Ahasuerus make Esther his new Queen?
Suggestion
Because Queen Vashti had defied his authority. (7 words)
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Queen Vashti disobeyed King Ahasuerus. Ahasuerus divorced Vashti. Ahasuerus made Esther his Queen.