The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
September 27, 2009
Vol. 12 no. 37

Everything But...

Most Biblical books have a “tag” attached to them that identifies a unique and memorable feature of its contents. The Book of Esther’s tag in the Old Testament is that the book does not mention God. On the surface, that doesn’t sound very promising for a potential part of the Holy Scriptures, but obviously innumerable generations have taken this dramatic narrative and mentioned it as part of their Bibles.

The reason is simply that readers always seem to be able to hear God rustling around in the background, even if the divine name is not even whispered. This is a good analogy for today’s intellectual climate. God’s name is not mentioned that frequently in common discourse. Not that writers and readers aren’t talking a lot about moral issues and decisions; they just work very hard to avoid religious language. Currently, one publisher offers books on “The Gospel according to ... Peanuts, U-2, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, the Simpsons, Disney, Harry Potter, science fiction, Tolkien, Star Wars, Hollywood, the Beatles, and Oprah.” Authors and filmmakers may not say it out loud, but their literary and cinematic efforts make it known that there is a God lurking in our midst.

Esther is a courageous heroine who knows she has been placed in the situation to save her people. She doesn’t mention God, but later on pious writers added some details to an expanded apocryphal edition of Esther and made certain God was front and centre. The villain Haman, who wanted to initiate a genocide of the Jews from the Persian Empire, cast lots to decide upon which day the deed would be done. The festival of Purim, meaning “lots,” commemorates happily his poor luck because eventually the lot fell upon him. Don’t see the movie, read the book.