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unige:42060 
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Denial, Deception, or Force: How to Deal with Powerful Others in the Book of Esther |
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| Author | ||
| Published in | Ben Zvi, E. & Edelman, D.V. Imagining the Other and Constructing Israelite Identity in the Early Second Temple Period. London, New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark. 2014, p. 219-229 | |
| Collection |
Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies; 456 |
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| Abstract | Jean-Daniel Macchi ‘Denial, Deception or Force: How to Deal with Powerful Others’ focuses on different strategies of resistance that reflect insider Othering of the imperial power explored in various versions of the book of Esther. Three options for resistance are presented: refusal to comply, the use of cunning and courage, and the use of force. Macchi then notes that divergent textual traditions endorse differing strategies; the earliest Greek Alpha text, probably written in the Ptolemaic period among the Judaean Diaspora in Egypt, omits the massacre of Jewish enemies and the inability to change Persian law. It assumes openness to collaboration with the imperial power. The Hebrew MT text, which includes the final massacre and an inalterable Persian law, would seem to reflect a rewriting in the Hasmonaean period in Jerusalem, where opposition to the foreign imperial power at any cost, including war, was deemed necessary for survival. The LXX presupposes a parent text close to the MT. Thus, the book represents diverse insider responses to dealing with imperial Others within the larger Jewish community in different periods and places. (D. Edelman). | |
| Keywords | Esther — Bible — Resistance | |
| Identifiers | ISBN: 978-0-56724-872-5 | |
| Full text | ||
| Structures | ||
| Citation (ISO format) | MACCHI, Jean-Daniel. Denial, Deception, or Force: How to Deal with Powerful Others in the Book of Esther. In: Ben Zvi, E. & Edelman, D.V. (Ed.). Imagining the Other and Constructing Israelite Identity in the Early Second Temple Period. London, New York : Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2014. p. 219-229. (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies; 456) https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:42060 |
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