Calendars in the Book of Esther: Purim, Festivals, Cosmology

This paper suggests that Esther added an extra month and a day to the king’s calendar to thwart the date chosen by Haman for the annihilation of the Jews. The result was that the Jews in the provinces were preparing and celebrating Passover when the Jews of Sushan, who had the benefit of additional time, were fighting then feasting. Esther’s intervention is related to Babylonian apotropaic calendar manipulation and the text indicates how a 354-day lunar calendar and a 360-day calendar might work. The analysis includes dates for Shavuot followed by different groups in Second Temple Judaism, one of which is reflected in a 364-day calendar scheme that is also attested at Qumran.