STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVING EXILE AND DIASPORA 101617 Professor

STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVING EXILE AND DIASPORA 10/16/17 Professor Tate

VOCABULARY • • • • 539 B. C. E. 515 B. C. E. Second Temple Ezra Diaspora Esther/Hadassah Esther’s Prayer Mordecai Ahasuerus/Xerxes Haman the Agagite “Greek Esther” Masoretic Text Septuagint • • • Daniel Nebuchadnezzar Jew/Jewish Dietary Laws Circumcision

THE EXILES RETURN IN 539 B. C. E. (EZRA 4) The people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build, and they bribed officials to frustrate their plan throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.

REACTION TO THE SECOND TEMPLE, COMPLETED IN 515 B. C. E. (EZRA 3) When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets…praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. ” And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping.

HAMAN’S PLOT TO DESTROY THE JEWS (ESTHER 3) Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued for their destruction. ”

MORDECAI’S SOLUTION (ESTHER 4) Mordecai gave [one of the king’s eunuchs] a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people. Then Esther spoke…”All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live.

MORDECAI’S SOLUTION (ESTHER 4) “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at a time such as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this. ”

ESTHER 4 “If I perish, I perish. ”

ESTHER 6 When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him. ”

THE MASORETIC TEXT

THE SEPTUAGINT King Ptolemy once gathered 72 elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He entered each one’s room and said, “Write for me the Torah of Moses, your teacher. ” God put it in the heart of each one to translate as all the others did. —The Talmud

THE MASORETIC TEXT VS. THE SEPTUAGINT

ESTHER’S PRAYER (SEPTUAGINT ONLY) Oh my Lord, you only are our king; help me, for I have no helper but you…Put eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion, and turn his heart to hate the man who is fighting against us, so that there may be an end of him and those who agree with him.

ESTHER’S PRAYER (SEPTUAGINT ONLY) You have knowledge of all things, and you know that I hate the splendor of the wicked and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised. You know my necessity—that I abhor the sign of my proud position, which is upon my head on the days when I appear in public. I abhor it like a filthy rag, and I do not wear it on the days when I am at my leisure. And your servant has not eaten at Haman’s table…Oh God, whose might is over all, hear the voice of the despairing, and save us from the hands of evildoers. And save me from my fear!”

Masoretic Text Septuagint On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the King’s palace, opposite the King’s hall. The King was sitting on his royal throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace. As soon as the King saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor and he held out to her the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter. The King said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom. On the third day, when she ended her prayer…after invoking the aid of the all-seeing God and Savior, she took to maids with her. One one she leaned for support, while the other followed carrying her train. She was radiant with perfect beauty…but her heart was frozen with fear. When she had gone through all the doors, she stood before the king. He was seated on his royal throne…He was most terrifying. Lifting his face, flushed with splendor, he looked at her in fierce anger. The Queen faltered, and turned pale and faint, and collapsed on the head of the maid who went in front of her. Then God changed the spirit of the King to gentleness.

DANIEL 1: KEEPING THE DIETARY LAWS Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine; so he asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself. Now God allowed Daniel to receive favor and compassion from the palace master. The palace master said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king; he has appointed your food and your drink. If he should see you in poorer condition than the other young men of your own age, you would endanger my head with the king”… “Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. You can then compare our appearance with the appearance of the young men who eat the royal rations, and deal with your servants according to what you observe”… At the end of ten days it was observed that they appeared better and fatter than all the young men who had been eating royal rations.

DANIEL 2: NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM “This is a public decree: if you do not tell me both the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. But if you do tell me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor”… Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, and worshiped Daniel, and commanded that a grain offering and incense be offered to him. The king said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery!” Then the king promoted Daniel, gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

DANIEL 3: THE FIERY FURNACE “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, you are to fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire”… Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up. ”

DANIEL 3: THE FIERY FURNACE Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire? ” They answered the king, “True, O king. ” He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god”… Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way. ”

WHO IS A JEW? In the Hebrew Esther? In the Greek Esther? In Daniel? In Ruth?

VOCABULARY • • • • 539 B. C. E. 515 B. C. E. Second Temple Ezra Diaspora Esther/Hadassah Esther’s Prayer Mordecai Ahasuerus/Xerxes Haman the Agagite “Greek Esther” Masoretic Text Septuagint • • • Daniel Nebuchadnezzar Jew/Jewish Dietary Laws Circumcision