Treasury of Bible Stories

by Donna Jo Napoli

  Thus his brutal story ended. Job was left without an explanation for the cruelty shown to him. But he came to an understanding: God is hardly needed for the things we understand; rather, God is essential for all those things we don’t understand.

  Naomi belonged to the Children of Israel, though she lived among the Moabites until her husband and sons died. Then she planned to return to Bethlehem alone. But her daughter-in-law Ruth loved her so much, she begged to accompany her.

  RUTH

  When famine came again to Bethlehem a man named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons moved to the land of the Moabites. There Elimelech died. Naomi’s sons married Moabite women. Ten years passed. Both sons were weak and sickly, and they died, too. Naomi and her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, were without protection or status, since none of them had husbands or children. Naomi heard that the famine had ended back home, so she told Orpah and Ruth to return to their mothers’ homes and marry anew, while she would return to Bethlehem. Orpah and Ruth didn’t want to leave Naomi; they followed her.

  Naomi insisted, “Turn back.” After all, the Moabites had denied the Children of Israel food and water when they were fleeing Egypt. So, by law, Moabites were never accepted into the tribes of Israel. Orpah and Ruth would have better lives in their homeland.

  Finally, Orpah kissed Naomi and left. But Ruth clung to Naomi.

  “Turn back,” said Naomi. Ruth needed her own people, her own home, her own god.

  Ruth responded, “Whither you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people are my people. Your god is my god. Wherever you die, I will die there, too, and be buried there.” The two women, joined in a bond of love, returned to Bethlehem.

  When they approached the town, the women there said, “Is this Naomi?”

  Naomi was taken aback at hearing her name. In that moment it struck her as unsuitable. Her name meant “pleasant,” but nothing about her life felt pleasant. She felt the name Mara fit better; that name meant “bitter” and that’s how she felt.

  It was the time of the barley harvest. When Ruth asked if she could go into the fields to glean—to pick up what the gatherers had dropped—Naomi encouraged her. After all, barley grain that the reapers dropped could not be gathered by the owner, but had to be left for the poor, and Naomi and Ruth were poor.

  It turned out that Ruth wound up in the field of Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi’s dead husband. Boaz said to his reapers, “The Lord be with you”—a friendly greeting. They answered, “The Lord should bless you,” a friendly answer. Boaz learned that the new girl was the Moabite daughter-in-law who had returned with Naomi. The reapers told him that she had been diligent all day, gathering the grains and not stopping to rest. Boaz invited Ruth to come every day to glean and drink from his well.

  FOOD FESTIVALS

  There were three major, weeklong festivals thanking God for food. One began with Passover and marked the beginning of the barley harvest in early spring. The next marked the end of the wheat harvest in early summer. The third marked the end of the fruit harvest and of the agricultural year in general, in autumn. Women were as active in these festivals as men. So they served as general family gatherings, allowing a formal moment to celebrate such things as births and the weaning of children.

  Ruth bowed and asked why he showed such generosity and kindness to a foreigner.

  “I know you left your birthplace, your mother and father’s home—you gave up all you knew for your mother-in-law. May the Lord reward you.” Perhaps he was thinking of stories about Abraham, and how the Lord had told Abraham to give up all he knew, for he used the words that the Lord had said to Abraham.

  At mealtime, Boaz told Ruth to eat the bread and dip it in the vinegar. He told the reapers to leave extra grain for Ruth. That night Ruth carried home an enormous quantity of barley sheaves. Naomi told Ruth to go back to Boaz’s field day after day.

  The harvest ended and Naomi and Ruth had enough stored to get them through the winter. But before they could rest, the threshing began. Threshing was a time of celebration. Naomi told Ruth to bathe, dress nice, and go to Boaz after his evening meal. Romance was on her mind. Perhaps Boaz would marry Ruth. After all, when a man died, often a kinsman took the widow as his own wife. Such a man was called a redeeming kinsman. Since Boaz was a kinsman of Naomi’s dead husband Elimelech, that meant he was a kinsman of Ruth.

  Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi’s husband and therefore of Ruth, owned fields of grain, which Ruth gleaned. With generosity and kindness, they noticed each other’s needs and decided to wed.

  Ruth did as Naomi said. When Boaz found a girl beside him that night, he asked, “Who are you?”

  “I am Ruth, and you are my kinsman, a redeeming kinsman.”

  “You are kind to choose me instead of a younger man. I am ready to be a redeeming kinsman. But there is another kinsman closer to Elimelech than me. If he will not take you as his wife, I will.” Boaz filled Ruth’s shawl with six shares of barley.

  Boaz went to this other kinsman and explained that he could redeem the land of Naomi’s dead husband Elimelech if he wanted. The kinsman agreed. Boaz added that he must also marry Ruth. At that, the kinsman changed his mind. He stood in public and took off his sandal as a symbol of refusing to redeem. So Boaz claimed all of Elimelech’s family land and claimed Ruth as his wife.

  Soon Ruth and Boaz were blessed with a son. His name was Obed, and he was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David. Yes, the David who would conquer Goliath and become king of a united Israel. So this was a momentous marriage.

  Maybe Naomi sensed that. Ruth was a Moabite—one of those viewed as tainted by an instance of corruption ages earlier, in the family of Lot. But Boaz was tainted, too, by an instance of trickery 10 generations earlier, in the family of Jacob-Israel. Ruth and Boaz were good and decent people, but their troubled ancestry could have ruined them. Maybe Naomi sensed that none of that past mattered. What mattered was loyalty, love, kindness, and charity. Those were virtues Ruth showed Naomi and Boaz showed Ruth. Those were virtues that went down through the next four generations to King David. Maybe the Lord chose David to be king because of those virtues.

  King Ahasuerus of Persia and Media was stupendously wealthy, and he flaunted that wealth. He also wanted to flaunt how beautiful Queen Vashti was. But she refused to be on display. In punishment for her disobedience, the king’s law experts told him he must expel Queen Vashti; she would no longer be his wife.

  ESTHER SAVES HER PEOPLE

  King Ahasuerus ruled Persia and Media, with provinces that ranged from Cush in Africa across the Arabian Peninsula and down into India. He liked to show off his wealth, so he invited important people from the provinces to his town of Shushan for 180 days of celebration. In the final week, the king held a banquet. His pavilion was decorated in white linen. Indigo cotton with cords of crimson hung from silver cylinders and marble columns. The couches were gold and silver on a paving of alabaster, marble, mother-of-pearl, and black pearl. Men drank wine from gold vessels. At the same time, his beautiful wife Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women.

  On the last day, the king sent seven men servants to fetch Queen Vashti, so he could show off to everyone how beautiful she was, wearing her royal crown.

  Queen Vashti refused.

  The king was furious. And not very clever. He asked his law experts what he should do to Queen Vashti for disobeying.

  These law experts were no fools. “Queen Vashti has done wrong to all of us!” They thought that if women heard that the queen had gotten away with disobeying her husband, women everywhere might try it.

  It was decided that the king should issue a royal decree written in the language of each province: Every man should rule his home. Because the queen had disobeyed, she would no longer be queen.

  King Ahasuerus’s anger soon subsided and he realized he would miss Queen Vashti. But his servants suggested that province officials gather beautiful young women. The king could take his pick. Our far-f
rom-clever king smiled; a beauty contest! What fun!

  Among the beautiful young women was Hadassah, also known as Esther, which sounded like “hidden” in Hebrew. Her cousin Mordecai had sheltered her after her parents died. Mordecai was a Jew, which was the name for a Hebrew in those days. His great-grandfather had been taken from the land of the Children of Israel to Babylonia by King Nebuchadnezzar. Thus he lived in Shushan.

  A BIBLICAL FARCE

  This is the only tale in the ancient Bible that does not mention God. It is also the first story that speaks of Jews. Unlike the word Hebrew (which was used to mean foreigner), this was a word that Jews called themselves by this point, just as they do today. The tale is a farce—a complex, ridiculous situation, with reversal after reversal, to be understood at a deeper level. The characters are not based on historical figures. Therefore, the insistence on telling the exact day of the exact month underscores the humor.

  Lovely Esther was brought to the palace. Mordecai made her promise not to tell that her kin were Jews. Daily, he passed in front of the women’s court to see what Esther might need.

  This bevy of young women was treated well—or as well as one could treat women snatched from their homes. For six months they were rubbed with oil of myrrh. For six more months they were doused with perfumes. After 12 months, the summoning began. In the evening, one young woman would be called to the king. In the morning she’d go back to the women’s house. She could not visit the king again unless he called for her by name.

  In the 10th month of the seventh year of King Ahasuerus’s reign, it was finally Esther’s turn to visit the king. The king was smitten with her. He crowned her and named her queen. He held another banquet—Esther’s banquet.

  Meanwhile, Mordecai hung around the palace gates. There, he overheard two courtiers plotting to kill the king. The king needed to know, of course! He told Esther, and she promptly told the king. The king had the two courtiers impaled on stakes. All of this was written down in the historical records.

  Years later, King Ahasuerus promoted a man named Haman to be leader of his royal advisers. Everyone had to bow to Haman. Mordecai refused. When the king’s servants asked why, he said as a Jew he bowed only to God. Haman went wild with anger. Probably no Jews would bow to him. He decided to kill them all.

  In the first month of the 12th year of the king’s reign, Haman tried to figure out when he should go on this killing spree. He used a form of divination based on chance, called purim, to make the decision. He cast lots—like throwing dice: The 12th month, called Adar, would be the right time. Haman told the king, “There are people in your kingdom with their own rules. They don’t obey the king’s rule. This is dangerous.” Haman convinced the king to write a decree to have these people killed. He offered to pay for the deed. The king gave Haman his royal ring and told him to keep his money. The scribes wrote the decree in every language in the empire. Couriers carried the scrolls away. The decree said that in the month Adar on the 13th day every Jew should be killed.

  At the news, Mordecai went about rending his clothes. He wore sackcloth, threw ashes on his head, and wept. All the Jews did the same. When Esther learned that Mordecai was wearing sackcloth, she had garments brought to him. Mordecai refused to wear them. He sent her a copy of the decree, so she would plead with the king not to kill the Jews. But Esther feared going to the king without being summoned. And it seemed—after five years of marriage—that Esther wasn’t in the king’s favor, for he hadn’t called her to him for 30 days. Mordecai answered, “Perhaps you have risen to this position of power just so you could help in a time like this.”

  SANCTIONED RECKLESSNESS

  Purim is a spring festival of feasting and rejoicing, after a minor fast. During Purim everyone dresses up and makes merry. Purim has much in common with the Catholic festival of Carnival, which precedes a major period of fasting and deprivation called Lent (parallel perhaps to Passover’s abstinence from leaven). During Carnival people dress up, make merry, and often do things they wouldn’t otherwise, without fear of criticism—sometimes even foolish things. Purim and Carnival affirm the right to be reckless now and then.

  The king’s new wife, Esther, invited him and his chief adviser Haman to a banquet, at which she secretly planned to expose Haman’s decision to kill all the Jews.

  Esther told Mordecai to have the Jews of Shushan fast for three days. She and her maidservants would fast, too. Then she’d plead with the king. “If I am lost, I am lost.”

  After three days, Esther dressed in royal garb and stood in the throne room entrance. The king sat on his throne. When he saw Esther’s glowing beauty, he held out his scepter and she touched the tip. “What’s troubling you, my queen? What do you need?”

  “I have prepared a banquet for Haman,” said Esther. “Come and bring him along.”

  The king and Haman went to drink wine at Esther’s banquet. The king again asked her what she wanted.

  “Come to another banquet tomorrow, and I’ll tell you.”

  The king rewarded Mordecai for saving his life years before by having him wear clothing the king himself had worn and parading through the square on a horse the king himself had ridden.

  Haman went home happy. On the way he passed Mordecai, who, of course, did not bow to him. When Haman got home, he told everyone how the king and queen respected him. Nevertheless, that fellow Mordecai ruined his pleasure. His friends suggested Haman set up a stake 50 cubits high and impale Mordecai there. Haman set up the stake. He waited outside the palace for dawn, when he could ask the king for permission to impale Mordecai.

  That night King Ahasuerus tossed and turned. He had an attendant open the historical records and read to him to lull him to sleep. But, what! The king heard about an event years ago: A certain Mordecai had told Esther about a plot to kill him. The king had forgotten. “What did we do to reward Mordecai?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  The king was never clever, but he recognized injustice. He looked outside and saw Haman. He had him fetched. “What should be done for a man the king wants to honor?”

  Haman thought the king was talking about him! Wonderful! “Let him wear clothing you have worn and parade through the square riding a horse you have ridden.”

  “Do this to Mordecai the Jew, who is outside the gate.”

  Haman did that, then went home for the rest of the day and complained. His advisers and his wife saw no good ahead. But before Haman could figure out what to do, a king’s servant fetched him for Esther’s second banquet that night.

  At that banquet, the king again asked what Esther wanted. She told him her people were about to be destroyed. The king asked who would do such a dastardly thing. Esther pointed. “The evil Haman.” The king stormed out of the pavilion. Cringing, Haman went to the queen’s couch to beg for mercy. When the king returned, he thought Haman was romancing his queen.

  A servant pointed out to the king the tall stake outside. The king had Haman impaled on it.

  The king took back the ring he had given to Haman and gave it to Mordecai, for Esther had told him how Mordecai had raised her as his own.

  “But you must do more,” said Esther. Surely the king had to withdraw his decree.

  But a written decree cannot be revoked. The king told Esther and Mordecai to make whatever clever new decree they wanted and seal it with his ring.

  In the third month on the 23rd day, Esther and Mordecai made a decree that gave the Jews the right to assemble, defend themselves, and take the spoils of those they conquered.

  It wasn’t a perfect solution. But Mordecai was happy. And Jews throughout the provinces rejoiced.

  On that fated day—in the 12th month on the 13th day—there were battles. The Jews won. But they didn’t take spoils. Maybe they were repenting. For Mordecai was in the family of Saul, the first king, who had kept the beasts of the Amalekites even after the Lord had told him to destroy them. And Haman was in the family of the Amalekites. The Jews were obeying the Lord’s orig
inal demand.

  King Nebuchadnezzar had a dreadful dream. He called together his wise men and four young men who were Children of Israel and who he trusted, and he asked them to figure out what his dream meant. But he wouldn’t tell them the dream; they had to discern it on their own!

  DANIEL IN THE LIONS’ DEN

  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia lay siege on Jerusalem and won. He plundered the glorious temple that Solomon had built, bringing home the finest vessels to put in his own god’s house. He ordered that the smartest and best-looking of the young men among the Children of Israel should be whisked off to Babylonia to educate the Babylonians. The king planned to spend three years preparing these men to serve him, teaching them to speak and read Babylonian languages so they could do their job properly.

  Among these best and brightest were four friends: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Each was given a Babylonian name. Daniel, which meant “as God is my judge,” was renamed Belteshazzar. Hananiah became Shadrach, Mishael became Meshach, and Azariah became Abednego. If renaming was supposed to integrate them into the new culture, it didn’t work: Daniel refused to eat the food or drink the wine of the king, since it went against his religion. The servant in charge of these young men liked Daniel and he worried that Daniel’s health would fail. Daniel decided to allay the man’s worries by offering a test. For 10 days he and his three friends ate only grains and lentils and drank only water. At the end of 10 days, they were plumper and healthier than those who ate the king’s fare. The man was convinced; the four Children of Israel were allowed to eat as they wished.