Book of Esther and Enuma Elish

by Damien F. Mackey “As a dreamer, and especially as a dream interpreter, Mordecai is brought in line with Daniel and, more importantly, with their predecessor Joseph”. Aaron Koller A reader has written (e-mail): …. The crest on the door of the Vatican is a Dragon. I think that is a clue to what is inside. …. Damien Mackey’s response: Then you’d have trouble with the Book of Esther, in which the holy Mordecai, the Jew, is depicted as a great dragon. Mordecai in his dream (Apocr. Esth. i. 4-11) sees two dragons coming to fight each other (representing Mordecai and Haman, ib. vi. 4); the nations make ready to destroy the “people of the righteous,” but the tears of the righteous well up in a little spring that grows into a mighty stream (comp. Ezek. xlvii. 3-12; according to Apocr. Esth. vi. 3, the spring symbolizes Esther, who rose from a poor Jewess to be a Persian queen). The sun now rises, and those who had hitherto been suppressed “devoured those who till then had been honored” (comp. Esth. ix. 1-17). A Vatican emblem is a dragon, but this has nothing to do with Satan. The Bible says Yahweh spews fire from his mouth and smoke from his nostrils in II Samuel, that he has enormous wings in Psalms. In Numbers, he orders Moses to make a bronze fiery serpent image. Etc. [End of e-mail exchange] One writer, Aliyah bat Stam, has gone so far as to connect: https://ononion.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/161/ The Book of Esther and the Enuma Elish Posted on February 20, 2013 … It has often been suggested — and by often, I mean every single Pagan I have ever talked to has mentioned it, and half of the Jews who knew anything about Judaism have said it to me, personally, at least once– that the Book of Ester [Esther] actually a veiled myth about Marduk and Ishtar. Can you blame them? Purim is widely known to be a Jewish adaptation of a Babylonian drinking holiday. Just listen to the names, too. Mordechai and Esther. They sound like the [names] of those two deities. I decided to do some investigation into this Babylonian drinking holiday, and was lead [sic] back to an ancient Babylonian tale about how the hero, Marduk, defeated Tiamat. In it, there are indeed many similarities to the Purim story. The antagonist, Tiamat, is terrorizing the good gods (or the ones that the reader is supposed to be rooting for). In the third tablet we learn, 17. “All the gods have turned to her, 18. “With those, whom ye created, they go at her side. 19. ”They are banded together, and at the side of Tiamat they advance; 20 . “They are furious, they devise mischief without resting night and day. 21. ”They prepare for battle, fuming and raging; 22. “They have joined their forces and are making war.” “The gods” here are sort of a faceless multitude. Likewise, in the Book of Ester, there is a faceless multitude waiting to do evil to the Jews: “And the letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.” (Esther, 3:13) In both, there is also a wine feast that is instrumental in swinging the tide of history over to the side of the “good guys.” In the Enuma Elish, Tablet 3: 133. They made ready for the feast, at the banquet [they sat]; 134. They ate bread, they mixed [sesame-wine]. 135. The sweet drink, the mead, confused their […], 136. They were drunk with drinking, their bodies were filled. 137. They were wholly at ease, their spirit was exalted; 138. Then for Marduk, their avenger, did they decree the fate. and in the Book of Esther: “Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house. And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre. Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom. And Esther answered, If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.” (Esther, 5:1-4) An aside: Scepter? Do you mean his staff? His power rod? The big long thing he likes to have in his hand? Yeah. It’s tip. She touched it. Oh yes, the Jewish people went there. The stories also have a very similar ending, too. From the Enumah Elish (fourth tablet): 27. When the gods, his fathers, beheld (the fulfilment of) his word, 28. They rejoiced, and they did homage (unto him, saying), “Marduk is king!” 29. They bestowed upon him the sceptre, and the throne, and the ring, and then, 101. He seized the spear and burst her belly, 102. He severed her inward parts, he pierced (her) heart. 103. He overcame her and cut off her life; 104. He cast down her body and stood upon it. 105. When he had slain Tiamat, the leader, 106. Her might was broken, her host was scattered. 107. And the gods her helpers, who marched by her side, 108. Trembled, and were afraid, and turned back. 109. They took to flight to save their lives; 110. But they were surrounded, so that they could not escape. 111. He took them captive, he broke their weapons; 112. In the net they were caught and in the snare they sat down. 113. The […] … of the world they filled with cries of grief. And in the book of Ester: “8:1 On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her. 8:2 And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.” and then, “8:17 And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.” and then, just in case the Hebrew Mythos left it unclear as to who, exactly, is wearing the pants: “And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done. Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.” (Esther, 9:12-13) Do not. Mess. With Jewish. Women. Ever. [End of quotes] Aaron Koller, in Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (pp. 115-116), likens Mordecai to other biblical dreamers, Joseph and Daniel: https://thetorah.com/a-more-religious-megillat-esther/ As a dreamer, and especially as a dream interpreter, Mordecai is brought in line with Daniel and, more importantly, with their predecessor Joseph. …. This not only established Mordecai as reminiscent of earlier biblical heroes, but also establishes his religious bona fides: he, like Joseph and Daniel, was the recipient of divine revelation and (by implication) divine approval. Certainly, the author of Addition A was biblically-oriented: the dream contains many intertextual references to other biblical books. These include use of the imagery of the dragon, fountain, battle, and the contrast between dark and light from Jeremiah 28. …. [End of quote] The titanic struggle “In the second year of the reign of Ahasuerus the Great …. Mordecai … of the tribe of Benjamin, had a dream. He was a Jew in the city of Susa, a great man serving in the court of the king. He was one of the captives whom Nebuchednezzar king of Babylon had brought from Jerusalem with Jeconiah king of Judea. And this was his dream: ‘Behold, noise and confusion, thunders and earthquake, tumult upon the earth! And behold, two great dragons came forward, both ready to fight, and they roared terribly. And at their roaring every nation prepared for war, to fight against the nation of the righteous. And behold, a day of darkness and gloom, tribulation and distress, affliction and great tumult upon the earth! And the whole righteous nation was troubled; they feared the evils that threatened them, and were ready to perish. Then they cried to God; and from their cry, as though from a tiny spring, there came a great river, with abundant water; light came, and the sun rose, and the lowly were exalted and consumed those held in honour’. Mordecai saw in this dream what God had determined to do, and after he awoke he had it on his mind and sought all day to understand it in every detail” (Esther 11:1-12). According to the unusual arrangement of the Book of Esther, this section from chapter 11 is situated at the very beginning of the narrative. It is, however, a most fitting introduction to the story since it sets the scene for the main drama to follow, presenting a symbolic account of it to the reader in prophetic form. In the ‘denouement’, or resolution of the drama, at the end of the Book of Esther in chapter 10, Mordecai explains all the various parts of his dream, whose meaning had become fully known to him as the events unfolded. It depicts the titanic struggle between good and evil as a fight between “two great dragons”. More specifically, as Mordecai finally reveals to us in chapter 10, “The two dragons are Haman and myself” (10:7). Mordecai’s apocalyptic dream is also a perfect back-drop for the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. She came upon the earth in 1917, when all nations were involved in the Great War (1914-1918). It was indeed a time of “darkness and gloom, tribulation and distress, affliction and great tumult upon the earth”. Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), the then reigning Pontiff, had used all the diplomatic resources at his disposal to bring an end to the hostilities, the shock of whose advent may well have killed his holy predecessor, Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914). But seeing that his efforts were in vain, pope Benedict XV turned his eyes to Heaven, and on the 5th of May 1917 he ordered that recourse be had to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, adding to the Litany of Loreto a new invocation: “Regina pacis, ora pro nobis”, that is, “Queen of Peace, pray for us”. And thus again, as in the case of Mordecai’s dream, a great “dragon” had begun to “roar” loudly on behalf of “the whole righteous nation”. But in this case it was the Supreme Pontiff of the chosen nation of the holy Catholic Church who cried to God and who ordered that all Catholics do the same. The response from Heaven was immediate. On the 13th of May, 1917, a mere eight days after the Holy Father had begun his plea to Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary visited the troubled earth, appearing to three innocent children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, at Fatima in Portugal. The precise place to which the Queen of Peace came at Fatima was one completely unknown, not only in Portugal and in the world, but even to the majority of the inhabitants of Fatima. Its name is Cova da Iria, a word which is derived from the Greek term eirene, meaning ‘peace’. The graphic images of noise, tumult, affliction and wholesale confusion upon the earth, ‘with every nation preparing for war’, as described in Mordecai’s dream, anticipate not only the Great War during which Our Lady of the Rosary at Fatima first appeared, and the many wars that have followed, but even more significantly they recall to mind that relentless and on-going struggle for souls. The latter is, of course, a spiritual warfare between the forces of good and evil, the “two great dragons” of the Book of Esther. In the past two to three centuries this struggle has visibly assumed a more global aspect; a bitter fight to the death between the holy Catholic Church and the forces of a world-wide conspiracy for global conquest and the formation of a “One-World ‘Church’,” (Pope St. Pius X) masterminded by the Devil, and set in motion initially through the agency of the secret societies of Freemasonry. The conspirators of evil were already in the midst of laying down their plans to unleash the “great red dragon” of Communism (cf. Revelation 12:3) upon Russia in 1917, when Heaven went into action. With Lenin and Trotsky in Petrograd, preparing to give orientation to the Bolshevist revolution which they directed, there came from Heaven, from the east, a Lady of Light, to Fatima. She was the same “Woman clothed with the sun” who – as the Evangelist had predicted long ago – would be opposed to this great red dragon (Revelation 12:3-5). She came solemnly to remind us of the unique and infallible means of salvation, strengthening our Faith in God, inviting us to prayer and penance and to flee sin, asking us to recite the Rosary daily and to consecrate ourselves to Her Immaculate Heart. It was only after Our Lady of Fatima’s six apparitions in 1917 had run their course from May to October that, on the 7th of November of that year, the Bolshevist faction triumphed first at Petrograd, then at Moscow. As Fr. J. DaCruz put it, whilst at the eastern end of Europe the spirit of Antichrist was being “unloosed, not only against true religion, but even against the very idea of God and against civil society, the most terrible onslaught in all history, at the same moment there appeared in splendour at the western extremity, the Great and Eternal Enemy of the infernal serpent!” [More about Fatima and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, p. 54]. The Thirteenth Day of the Month To appreciate why Heaven has placed such special emphasis on the 13th day of the month, making it the intended day of each of the six apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, we need to refer again to the pages of the Book of Esther. It is an important point and one that has been made before. Mordecai the Jew had been raised to prominence in the court of the King of Medo-Persia because he, having become cognizant of a plot by two of the king’s eunuchs to assassinate their master, had duly informed the king and had thus saved his life. We also learn about Mordecai that he had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle; for, after both her parents had died, Mordecai had adopted the girl as his own daughter (Esther 11:3; 12:1; 2:7). [Actually, she became Mordecai’s wife]. This Mordecai is therefore a key player in the whole drama. Into the midst of this tranquil scenario steps the sinister Haman. For reasons unexplained, the king so advances this foreign guest of his (Esther 16:10) as to set him above all the princes and make him second in the kingdom (cf. e.g. 3:1-2 and 16:11). This means that all the king’s servants were expected to bow down to Haman. The fact that Mordecai would not bow down filled Haman with fury. He thereupon resolved “to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai himself” (3:1, 6). There is more to Haman than first meets the eye, and it gradually becomes apparent that his intentions are conspiratorial. Because of his extreme cunning, Haman has no difficulty insinuating his way into great prominence in the kingdom of Medo-Persia; his ultimate purpose being, as he speedily rose to become “the person second to the royal throne” (16:11), to get rid of the king. For, as it turned out, even the eunuchs’ plot to assassinate king Ahasuerus had been masterminded by Haman (12:16). A chastened king Ahasuerus would later testify that this Haman, who “was called our father and was continually bowed down to by all”, had thought to “transfer the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedonians” [sic] (16:12, 14). No doubt Haman intended for himself (and/or perhaps for one of his ten sons) to be the ruler over this united kingdom of east and west. Only one obstacle remained, and it was in the form of his rival colleague, Mordecai; the one man of rank in the kingdom who was neither deceived by Haman’s guile nor would bow down to him. Inasmuch as Mordecai had unmasked the plotting of the eunuchs to kill the king, and had made a written account of it (12:4), Haman had good reason to be wary of him. Unable, therefore, to vent his antagonistic spleen upon Mordecai directly, Haman felt that he could harm him through his race. Firstly destroy the Jews, he probably reasoned, and deal with Mordecai later, perhaps after King Ahasuerus himself had been dispatched. It is here that we come across the significance of the 13th day of the month. It did not take much for the astute Haman to persuade Ahasuerus that the Jews, with their “different” laws and customs, and their flouting of the king’s laws – as Haman had claimed – were not profitable for the king to tolerate, and so ought to be destroyed (3:8). Haman’s offer to the king of the enormous sum of ten thousand talents of silver (3:9) was an added incentive. “So the king took the signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman … the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, ‘the money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you’.” (13:10-11). Lots (purim) had been cast before Haman, “day after day” and “month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar” (3:7), presumably to determine the most propitious time to act. Next the king, after having agreed to Haman’s wicked counsel, summoned his secretaries “on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the princes of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language; it was written in the name of king Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s ring. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods” (13:12-13). That is the significance of the thirteenth day of the month. The central drama in the Book of Esther is played out in its entirety between that thirteenth day of the first month, when Haman persuaded the king that the Jews must be annihilated for the common good, and the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the intended date for the full realisation of Haman’s terrible plan. The Lady of Light In the biblical story it is Queen Esther who comes to the rescue of her people. The “cry” of the whole righteous nation, praying that God might deliver it from the evils that were threatening to engulf it, is symbolized in Mordecai’s dream as no more than “a tiny spring”; for the small Jewish nation meant absolutely nothing to the king of Medo-Persia. The profound difference, in the eyes of the king, made by Esther’s intercession on behalf of her people, is exemplified in Mordecai’s retrospective explanation of this part of his dream (10:6): “The tiny spring which became a river, and there was light and the sun and abundant water … the river is Esther whom the king married and made queen”. For God’s chosen people of today, it is of course the Blessed Virgin Mary who makes all the difference to their feeble prayers of supplication. It is She who, as Mediatrix before the sublime King of Heaven, adds the necessary weight to these prayers to ensure that He will listen to them. Like Esther of old, the Queen of Peace entered into the midst of the fray, because again a righteous nation, led by its chief prince – in this case the Holy Father – had begun to implore Heaven to send down its peace and protection.