Esther Chapter 2

Presentation of Mordekhai and Esther in Chapter 2

Prof Yonatan Grossman

Why did [Mordekhai] command Esther not to reveal her national identity? The question is even more puzzling when we consider that Mordekhai himself reveals the fact that he is a Jew: "For he had told them that he was a Jew" (3:4). This being so, why did he command Esther not to reveal her Jewish identity to those who would ask?

Among the medieval commentators there are two quite different approaches to the question, both of which touch upon a fundamental question: was Esther interested in being chosen as queen? Rashi (ad loc.) explains: "So that they would assume that she was from a lowly family and send her away, for if they would know that she was from the family of King Shaul, they would hold onto her." The assumption here is that Mordekhai and Esther did not want Esther to be chosen as queen. In contrast, the Ibn Ezra, at the beginning of his commentary, brings two explanations that adopt a different assumption: "Some say that Mordekhai acted improperly in commanding Esther not to mention her people, for he feared that the king would not take her as a wife if he were to know that she was from the exile. Others said: through prophecy or a dream he knew that redemption would come through her to Israel." According to both of these explanations, Mordekhai wanted Esther to be chosen by the king! The hiding of Esther's national identity was meant to facilitate her selection.

These opposing approaches are continued among contemporary scholars. Moore, on one hand, maintains: "Esther wanted to become queen" (27). Berlin, on the other hand, argues, "Esther was taken not of her own will, and even against her will" (83).

It would seem that this decisive question may be resolved if we look at the description of the way in which Esther was taken to the king. It is not coincidental that in both passages in which she is taken, the narrator adopts the passive case: "Esther was taken to the king's house" (8); "Esther was taken to King Achashverosh" (16). This language projects a sense of coercion: Esther is taken to the palace, as the Midrash puts it, "against her will and not for her benefit" (Aggadat Esther, parasha 2). This is further confirmed in light of the other passive datum mentioned in the chapter: Esther makes no attempt to anoint herself with ointments – precisely because she does not want to beautify herself, such that she will end up victorious in the competition for the heart (and eyes) of the king.

Why, then, does Esther avoid revealing her ethnic identity? I believe that Bush's suggestion is correct: the simplest explanation for Esther's avoidance of revealing her national identity is related to the basic experience shared by many people when they find themselves in a foreign country. The immediate inclination of a foreigner – especially if we are speaking of a Jew living in an anti-Semitic country – is to hide one's Jewish identity. Mordekhai, concerned for the welfare of his adopted daughter, asks her not to reveal that she is Jewish, to try to act like a local girl. This sows the seeds for the background to the national struggle that is going to develop upon publication of the decrees of the anti-Semitic Haman.

But even after we have considered the various different solutions proposed to answer this question (and there are more, in addition to those mentioned above), it is clear that the text itself offers no clue as to the meaning of the concealment of Esther's national identity. The reader hears nothing, either from Mordekhai or from the narrator, and it seems that the concealment of the motive plays an important role in the molding of the reader's experience in this scene. The very fact that Esther's identity is hidden is important for the story, from two different perspectives. First, this fact will play a role in the development of the plot, when it turns out that Haman and his advisors have no idea that Esther is Jewish. Secondly, Esther, in this context, represents a mirror image of the situation of the Jewish nation as a whole. At the beginning of the story they hide their Jewish identity, participating in the feasts of the Persian king ("For all the people who were in Shushan, the capital" – 1:5) and even going by Persian names (Mordekhai, Esther). During the course of the narrative Esther will reveal her Hebrew identity when she stands before the king to plead for her people; reflecting back on the nation, they too will return to their identity when they decree a fast for themselves and afflict themselves. In this context, the narrative emphasizes the hiding of Esther's Jewish identity not because of its reason or purpose, but rather as the point of departure for a narrative in which the issue of Jewish identity in exile is one of the key themes to be explored throughout the text.

In the wider context of our discussion it should be noted that Esther, in this scene, also serves as a mirror image of the narrator himself. In other words, just as Esther hides her identity, so the narrator hides his theological world and its messages. The reader, encountering a key character in the story who hides her identity, enters an atmosphere of secrecy, and this itself encourages him to pay attention to Jewish hints murmuring beneath the surface of the text – even if they are garbed with the majestic cloak of the Persian palace.