#Not the Elephantine Jews of centuries earlier that saw Anat as Hashem's consort/maybe an emanation of Hashem

[bijoumikhawal]

The Book of Esther shows us a Jewish queen in exile, and the story resonates with the echoes of the priestess/goddess roles. In the ancient Persian religion, Spring was a time to draw lots to determine the king's new advisors. Ishtar (goddess of love and war), and Marduk (god of war and justice), would have been prominent characters in the new year ritual drama. The Book of Esther transforms the tradition into a saga of Jewish survival, appropriating the role of the preserver of life (Ishtar) for Esther and the position of the protector of the people (Marduk) for Mordechai. The Book of Esther allows Jews to be part of the larger culture's mythic tale of Spring and to remain true to their Jewish identity at the same time.

Esther's story is a twist on the descent of the goddess Ishtar into the underworld. In Babylonian myth, the goddess Ishtar strips herself of her clothing and royal garb to enter the underworld. Ishtar's sister, Ereshkigal queen of the underworld, afflicts Ishtar with disease and death. After the other gods plead with Ereshkigal to let Ishtar go, Ishtar's royal robes are returned to her.

Esther, a young Jewish girl, finds herself in a Persian harem. Esther must strip herself of her identity and pretend she is not a Jew, just as Ishtar must strip herself of goddesshood in the underworld. Later, under the influence of the evil vizier Haman, the king makes the decree that all Jews be assassinated. Esther's uncle Mordechai begs Esther to go to the king, even though it is forbidden, risking her life to save her people. Before doing so, Esther fasts for three days. Her three days of fasting may be an allegory for Ishtar's trials in the underworld.

On the third day, Esther garbed herself in royalty, and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, and the king sat on his royal throne in the palace opposite the doorway. When the king saw Esther standing in the courtyard, she found favor in his eyes, and the king extended to her the golden scepter in his hand, and Esther drew near and touched the scepter's head.

-Esther 5:1-2

One cannot miss the strong parallel between Esther's robing herself in royalty and Ishtar's queenly robing as she leaves the underworld. When Esther enters the king's throne room and touches the tip of his royal scepter, she is enacting the sacred marriage between Ishtar and the king. Although in a Jewish story this image is probably meant to be ironic, it can also be seen as Esther's acting as a priestess, channeling the power of the divine feminine in the human realm.

Pg 136-137, The Hebrew Priestess