Our Sages drew attention to the
parallels between the plot of Megillat Esther and the story of
Joseph, with Midrash Breishit Rabba [87:6] commenting that "The
travails of the descendants of Rachel (Joseph and Mordechai/Esther) are equal
and their greatness is equal." The Midrash then points out six
linguistic parallels between the description of the saga of Joseph in Genesis
and the Megilla's description of the events of Purim. In point of fact,
there are no fewer than twenty-seven parallels between the two Biblical
stories!
It is axiomatic that the Bible chooses its
words carefully and meaningfully, and it is clear that the abundance of
similarities between the accounts of the adventures of the descendants of
Rachel are intentional. The Men of the Great Assembly, who in Our Sages'
tradition authored Megillat Esther (at least in its final version),
chose wording similar to that of the Joseph saga in order to compare the two
stories. The linguistic parallels express the parallel content.
The first general similarity is that in
each of the stories, a lone Israelite (Joseph cannot be called a Jew), who
hides his/her true identity rises to a position of great power and thereby is
able to save the Children of Israel.
Beyond this general point, we may note
additional similarities:
Y As Breishit Rabba mentioned, both heroes (for
our purposes, Esther and Mordechai will be considered a single unit; some of
the similarities between Joseph and the Purim story relate to Esther, others to
Mordechai) are descendants of Rachel; Joseph her first-born son, Mordechai and
Esther descendants of her younger son, Benjamin.
Y In each of the sagas, Israel faces annihilation: in
the Joseph story, the threat is famine, and the Jews in the 127 provinces of
Ahasuerus are threatened by Haman's decree to " destroy, kill, and cause
to perish all the Jews." [Esther 3:13]
Y Each of the stories takes place primarily outside
the Land of Israel.
Y In each of
the sagas, Divine providence operates, as it were, in a natural manner, without
overt intervention. This is especially notable in Megillat Esther,
which is the only book of the Bible which does not mention God explicitly. In
each case, when we reach the "happy ending," it becomes clear that
the events were indeed guided by the hand of God.
It is clear to me that the Men of the
Great Assembly, in writing, or at least editing, Megillat Esther in
parallel to the Joseph story, intended to convey the basic message of the
general rule of the history of the Nation of Israel. Professor Eliezer
Berkovits writes that the history of Israel is on a totally different plane
than that of the nations of the world.
The history of the world is that of power history, while the history of
Israel can be understood only as faith history. In a nutshell, the fate
of Israel rests upon its faith.
Each
of the stories conveys the centrality of Israel's unity. Joseph created a
situation in which his brothers united in defense of Benjamin, and when they
demonstrated that they would not abandon their youngest brother, the viceroy of
Egypt revealed himself to his brothers. Haman's threat to Israel began with the
nation's lack of unity, as the Aggagite himself announced "there is a
single nation dispersed and disunited," [Esther 3:8] while the turning
point comes with Israel's unity, as Esther instructed Mordechai "gather all
the Jews…" [ibid.4:16] In each instance, it is Israel's unity which brings
Divine salvation. Indeed, one of the most consistent lessons of Israel's
history is that when the nation is disunited, it is at risk, while unity
provides protection against the plots of our enemies.
