by
Damien F. Mackey
Is this the one,
same king?
For some more background to this article, see
my:
The Book of Esther provides us with a Great
King who is variously called “Ahasuerus” and “Artaxerxes”. I have identified
him as both “Darius the Mede” and Cyrus:
Is the Book of Esther a Real
History? Part Three: “King Ahasuerus”
I
concluded this article with:
According
to my radical truncating of the number of Chaldean kings of this era,
Nebuchednezzar II’s son, Evil-Merodach (or Awel-Marduk), was the last of the
rulers of this dynasty - and he was the same person as Belshazzar:
Hence
it is likely that the Medo-Persian king who succeeded Belshazzar, “Darius the
Mede” – who I believe to have been Cyrus himself (see e.g.):
Darius the Mede "Received the
Kingdom"
was
the Great King “Ahasuerus” (“Artaxerxes”), whose wife Queen Esther was.
[End
of quote]
Now,
the description of Ezra’s king Ahasuerus/Artaxerxes fits tolerably well with
what we learn about the Great King of the same names in the drama of Esther,
supplemented with parts of the Book of Daniel.
Apart
from Mordecai’s dream, in the second year of Ahasuerus, we do not engage the
reign of the Great King until his third year of reign (Esther 1:3), when he was
in high celebratory mode.
Likely earlier than
this incident was that of Ezra 4:6: “And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in
the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of
Judah and Jerusalem”.
However,
that King Ahasuerus had severe trouble early in his reign is apparent from a
comparison of Daniel 6 (in which he is called “Darius the Mede”) and, more
emphatically, Bel and the Dragon (in which he is called “Cyrus of Persia”):
Daniel
6:24: “At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused
Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives
and children”.
Bel
and the Dragon (1:28-30): “When they of Babylon heard that, they took great
indignation, and conspired against the king, saying, The king is become a Jew,
and he hath destroyed Bel, he hath slain the dragon, and put the priests to
death. So they came to the king, and said, Deliver us Daniel, or else we will
destroy thee and thine house. Now when the king saw that they pressed him sore,
being constrained, he delivered Daniel unto them …”.
This conspiracy
against the king could well pertain to the conspiracy that Mordecai uncovered
(Esther 2:21-23): “Once, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigsan and Seresh,
two officers of the king's night guards, became angry at the king, and they
conspired to poison the king. Mordecai found out about it, so he told Queen
Esther, and Esther told it to the king, citing Mordecai as her source. They
investigated the matter, and it was verified, and they were both hanged on
gallows. It was then recorded in the royal book of chronicles”.
When we move on to
Ezra 4’s account of “Artaxerxes”, we encounter a name, “Bishlam”, or other
variations, that is not unlike that of the conspirator, “Bigsan”, or other
variations (e.g. “Bigthan”).
D. Clines (Esther Scroll: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=PBediPzesQ0) has put forward
“the supposition that Haman was himself implicated in the conspiracy of [Bigthan
and Teresh] which Mordecai uncovered, as is suggested by both the Greek
versions …”.
Ezra continues:
In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and
Mithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king
of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated. Rehum the
commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to
Artaxerxes the king as follows: Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and
the rest of their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials, the
Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the
Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar
deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province
Beyond the River. (This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes
the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send
greeting. And now be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to
us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city.
They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. Now be it known to
the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay
tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. Now because
we eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to witness the
king's dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, in order that search
may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the
book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to
kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That
was why this city was laid waste. We make known to the king that if this city
is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the
province Beyond the River.”
Similarly, Haman informs Ahasuerus/Artaxerxes of
this allegedly rebellious and lawless people (Esther 3:8-9): "There is a nation
scattered and separated among the nations throughout your empire. Their laws
are different than everyone else's, they do not obey the king's laws, and it
does not pay for the king to tolerate their existence. If it pleases the king,
let a law be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay to the executors
ten thousand silver Kikar-coins for the king's treasury”.
And Queen Esther, in her
prayer, would note that (vv. 19-20) “… our enemies are no longer
satisfied just to see us in slavery. They have made a solemn promise to their
idols not only to destroy the people who praise you, but to do away with your
Law and to remove forever the glory of
your house and altar”.
That is just what the enemies
of the Jews were intending in the Ezran drama.
And, just as Ahasuerus/Artaxerxes will respond to this
accusation (Esther 3:9-10): “The king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to
Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, persecutor of the Jews. The king said to
Haman, ‘Keep the money, and do whatever you want with that nation’," so,
too, did he, in Ezra, harken to Rehum and his crew (4:17-23):
The king sent an answer: ‘To Rehum the
commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in
Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now the
letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me. And I made a
decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of
old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in
it. And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the whole
province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.
Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be
not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. And take care not to be slack in
this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”
Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes'
letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they
went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease.
Haman’s hypocritical
‘concern’ that “… it does not pay for the king to tolerate”
the Jews, may echo the rebels’ feigned solidarity: “Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”
That the Great King should not suffer loss seems to be a rather common
sentiment throughout the Book of Esther.
