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In 1 Clement, the author names Esther beside Judith as a woman who risked her life for her people, an explicit Christian reference to the book of Esther, and joins her fasting with humiliation before God, as the Greek versions of her story do.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Esther 4:16
Septuagint
14 For if you do not listen at this time, there will be help and shelter for the Judeans from another place, but you and the house of your father will be killed; and who knows whether you are queen for this time?’” 15 Then Esther sent him who had come to her to Mordecai, saying, 16 “Go, convene the Judeans who are in Susa and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink for three days, night and day, and I, indeed also my maids, shall fast, and then I shall go into the presence of the king contrary to the law, even if I die.” 17 And Mordecai went and did all Esther commanded him.
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 55:6
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Early Christian
4 The blessed Judith, when the city was beleaguered, asked of the elders that she might be allowed to go forth into the camp of the aliens. 5 So she exposed herself to peril and went forth for love of her country and of her people which were beleaguered; and the Lord delivered Holophernes into the hand of a woman. 6 To no less peril did Esther also, who was perfect in faith, expose herself, that she might deliver the twelve tribes of Israel, when they were on the point to perish. For through her fasting and her humiliation she entreated the all seeing Master, the God of the ages; and He, seeing the humility of her soul, delivered the people for whose sake she encountered the peril.
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Notes and References
“... In addition to Clement’s explicit reference to the book of Esther in 1 Clem. 55:6, there is another possible echo of the book of Esther. After a short amount of text, Clement produces an intercessory prayer in 1 Clem. 59:3-4 that “is a pastiche of OT quotations and allusions,” that have been piled on top of one another. [...] Through this, the three-day event of both Jesus and Esther can be presented as acts of humiliation. The Greek vocabulary comes into play in 1 Clem. 55:6 which also couples fasting and humiliation together with Esther; “for with fasting and humiliation [Esther] besought the all-seeing Master of the Ages”. ...”
Lees, D.M.
Intertextual Ripples of the Book of Esther: An Evaluation of Σταυρωθήτω and Ἰουδαΐζω in the New Testament
(p. 94, 285) Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2018
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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