Book contents
- Why the Bible Began
- Why the Bible Began
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Rise and Fall
- Part II Admitting Defeat
- Part III A New Narrative
- Part IV A People of Protest
- 22 The Matriarch
- 23 The Hero
- 24 The Other
- 25 The Soldier
- 26 The Prophet and the Priest
- 27 The Sage
- 28 The Poet
- 29 The Queen
- 30 Conclusions
- Subject Index
- Scholars Cited
- Biblical References
- References
29 - The Queen
Peoplehood without Piety
from Part IV - A People of Protest
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 July 2023
Book contents
- Why the Bible Began
- Why the Bible Began
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Rise and Fall
- Part II Admitting Defeat
- Part III A New Narrative
- Part IV A People of Protest
- 22 The Matriarch
- 23 The Hero
- 24 The Other
- 25 The Soldier
- 26 The Prophet and the Priest
- 27 The Sage
- 28 The Poet
- 29 The Queen
- 30 Conclusions
- Subject Index
- Scholars Cited
- Biblical References
- References
Summary
Our final story is set at the court in Susa, the winter capital of the enormous Persian Empire reaching from India to Ethiopia. There young women are participating in an empire-wide beauty pageant. They have a year to get ready, and then the king will choose one of the candidates to be his queen.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Why the Bible BeganAn Alternative History of Scripture and its Origins, pp. 452 - 463Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
References
Further Reading
Beal, Timothy K., The Book of Hiding: Gender, Ethnicity, Annihilation, and Esther, Routledge, 1997.Google Scholar
Berlin, Adele, Esther: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation, Jewish Publication Society, 2001.Google Scholar
Hancock, Rebecca S., Esther and the Politics of Negotiation: Public and Private Spaces and the Figure of the Female Royal Counselor, Fortress, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laffey, Alice L., An Introduction to the Old Testament: A Feminist Perspective, Fortress, 1988.Google Scholar
Macchi, Jean-Daniel, Esther (International Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament), Kohlhammer, 2019.Google Scholar
Mapfeka, Tsaurayi Kudakwashe, Esther in Diaspora: Toward an Alternative Interpretive Framework, Brill, 2019.Google Scholar
Miller, Tricia, Three Versions of Esther: Their Relationship to Anti-Semitic and Feminist Critique of the Story, Peeters, 2014.Google Scholar
Southwood, Katherine E. and Halvorson-Taylor, Martien A. (eds.), Women and Exilic Identity in the Hebrew Bible, Bloomsbury, 2018.Google Scholar
Yarden, Ophir, “Jewish Not Judean: The Diaspora in the Book of Esther,” TheTorah.com, 2022, www.thetorah.com/article/jewish-not-judean-the-diaspora-in-the-book-of-esther.Google Scholar