esther is a vegetable

I admitted recently here that, in the past, the hebrew scriptures have not been my favorite reading. For one thing, they're awfully violent. I'm also sometimes stopped by the cultural norms of the time. I do have a growing appreciation though. Especially for the prophets.

A few years ago I was babysitting my friend Alex, who at the time was obsessed with Veggie Tales. In particular he loved the cartoon story of Esther. I'll admit it was a good story. I especially liked the talent show, where the different eligible bachelorettes performed songs or dances or magic tricks for the king.

I was in fact inspired by talking cartoon vegetables to pick up the actual Book of Esther for a read. The story was familiar, until I got to the "talent show" part.

"Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at Susa. Hegai, the eunuch in charge, will see that they are all given beauty treatments. After that, the young woman who pleases you most will be made queen instead of Vashti."

Ok, this must be the talent show, I thought. I was reading a New Living Translation at the time, which described the "talent" show thus:

"Before each young woman was taken to the king's bed, she was given the prescribed twelve months of beauty treatments – six months with oil of myrrh, followed by six months with special perfumes and ointments. When the time came for her to go in to the king, she was given her choice of whatever clothing or jewelry she wanted to enhance her beauty."

Oh my. Talent show .... taken to the king's bed .... The New American Bible version of Esther 2:12 just says "Each girl went in turn to visit King Ahasuerus" NRSV says "The turn came for each girl to go in to King Ahasuerus." I have a feeling this is sugar coating and the New Living Translation hits closer to the mark. They were taken to the royal harem after all.

I remember thinking at the time, what are all those kids going to think when they grow up and read the actual Book of Esther with its "talent show."

Why am I telling this story? …. The Velveteen Rabbi tells us that there is now a graphic novel of the Book of Esther.