The violence in the Book of Esther as hermeneutical problem

Abstract

Violence in the Bible became a sore point in our times. There are thousands of killed enemies of Jews in the ninth chapter of the book of Esther. Was Esther really a bloodthirsty queen? Are Jews really a violent nation? Civil war depicted in the book of Esther is historically not verifiable in the persian kingdom. Referred violence functions as a „counter-history“ (J. Assmann). The past is discribed from the point of view of the beatened and oppressed in the manner that the oppressors appear as pitiful persons and the winners as beatened. The biblical text does not celebrate the violence, it wants to prevent such events as annihilation of the whole nation.

Keywords

• Księga Estery, przemoc, hermeneutyka, „historia sprzeczna”, Papieska Komisja Biblijna, Natchnienie i prawda Pisma Świętego