Purim: Esther as Concubine and the Acolyte of Ishtar

by Katherine Frisk

The celebration of Purim is a yearly ritual and is enacted and carried out in the Judaic tradition in the last days of winter before spring arrives.

A brief synopsis of the story behind Purim:

As a young child, Esther was orphaned and adopted by  Mordecai. When she came of age he sold her into the King’s Harem. Eventually, the King became so enamored with Esther that he made her his Queen.  Due to Esther’s influence over the King, Mordecai was given permission to slaughter his enemies, every man woman, and child. Not only were the people responsible for plotting to kill the Jews murdered, but also whole families, the innocent, who had been caught up in this political disaster.

We see the same thing happening in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip today. The innocent are murdered, their homes are destroyed, their olive trees are cut down and their land is taken from them in yet another “holocaust,” reminiscent of Purim.

The celebration of Purim is the celebration of the holocaust that took place when the Jews in Persia, during the Babylonian exile, laid waste to almost 100,000 people thanks to an edict granted to them by King Ahasuerus and made possible due to Esther’s position in the King’s palace.

The Middle East for thousands of years, even in the 21st Century, regards women as commodities. Young girls are sold into slavery, prostitution, or both. Many young girls who are exceptionally beautiful and “comely,” a rather censored word used in Biblical passages for “sexy,” are often part of trade and political agreements and are “sold off” in marriage.

Orphans are particularly vulnerable and susceptible, often “adopted” by older men, who nurture them and depending on how pretty, beautiful, or “comely” they are, sell them off, either as slaves or in marriage, as one would sell off a prized piece of art in exchange for some other thing of value.

In this story we see Mordecai gaining power and influence through a young girl who he has nurtured and adopted. These young women were also often used as spies, the lure of their charms was encouraged from a young age and adapted for the purposes of espionage and political influence. Their beauty and their sexual prowess were imperative in order for them to fulfil their obligations to their “adopted” father figure. Esther in all cases fits the profile. She is the ultimate  Jewish spy and concubine of the Middle East in Judaic culture.

Not only does Esther fit the spy/concubine role, but she also fits the profile of the sacred whore and the Goddess Ishtar. Most of the symbols associated with her, including her name, have been plagiarised and adapted from Sumerian belief into a Judaic myth of… “Biblical proportions. ”

Esther is called  “Hadassah,”  which means “Myrtle” in Hebrew. The myrtle flower was sacred to Venus, Aphrodite, and Ishtar. It was also considered to be a powerful aphrodisiac. We are told that Esther was born Hadassah, which could be read in the context that she was a born aphrodisiac. Many things over time either get lost in translation or are slightly altered from their original form. The word “Hadassah” is almost similar to the word “kadeshah,” which was a sacred prostitute.

If we look at the story of Esther, her upbringing, her eventual position in the King’s harem, and her later rise to power, she most definitely fits the definition of “kadeshah.” She also fits the definition of the Japanese concubine and the many women in European history known openly as “The King’s Mistress.” Trained for service both physically and intellectually in order to spy on and be of influence in the highest escutcheons of power. As such she is given “Goddess” status.

Ishtar is the Goddess of love, war, fertility, and sexuality. The town of Uruk in Babylonia was known as the “town of the sacred courtesans.” She is also referred to as the “courtesan of the gods”.

The monarchy at the time regarded themselves as “Gods,” King  Ahasuerus  was seen as the son of the Gods, Esther as his courtesan and concubine as a courtesan of the “God.”

Ishtar is often associated with Isis. But these two “Goddess” figures come from two different nations and represent completely different aspects of women.

ISHTAR

Ishtar is a concubine, courtesan, and second wife to the King/God. This is a    polygamous relationship.  Ishtar in cosmology is the planet Venus.  Ishtar is the Goddess of war.

ISIS

Isis is a Goddess in her own right and the only wife of Osiris. This is a monogamous relationship. Isis in cosmology is the star Sirius.   Isis is the Goddess of fertility, her star Sirius, rises at the annual flooding of the  Nile  River which brought fertile silt giving abundance to the whole of Egypt. Isis is the mother figure, of the God King Horus.

SEKHMET

A comparative study of Egyptian Goddesses would rather place Ishtar and in turn Esther, on a similar level to the Lioness Goddess,  Sekhmet, the “alter” of the Goddess  Hathor. Ishtar was also associated with the Lions.

In her negative aspect as Sekhmet, she is the Goddess of war and destruction. Also known as the destructive “eye” of the sun. Or the “eye of Ra.” In her positive aspect, she turned into Hathor, the goddess of love. Much in the same way Esther is the concubine and lover of the God/King but is also the engineer of the holocaust and the total destruction of Mordecai’s enemies.

 Hollywood seems to have adopted this duality of Ishtar, through mind control and creating “alters.” The “kitten” training, the violence, and the blatant promiscuity, coupled with dual personality types very often lead to a mental breakdown and often suicide. A full in-depth study on this subject can be found at Vigilante Citizen. 

In closing, the story of Esther is not part of the original Torah reading. It is a story that has been adapted from Sumerian myths, the Babylonian exile, and the story of one tribe, the Jews, descendants of Judah. Whether there was an Esther or not, whether this holocaust actually took place or not, is debatable. The whole rendering of the story of Esther could be plagiarised from Babylonian history and religion. The Samaritans, the descendants of Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, do not celebrate Purim. They only mark the holidays set by the Pentateuch.