חֲצִי

From the study of Esther 5:3

Range of meaning

'Half of the kingdom.' A set phrase of royal generosity, meaning 'anything at all, within reason.' It is not a literal offer to divide the empire.

Against the English

All the major versions keep 'half the kingdom.' The risk is a modern reader taking it as a literal, binding legal offer, or as a measure of how much the king loved her.

How it drifted

It drifts only if read as a literal promise. To an ancient audience it was a familiar flourish of royal speech.

Used elsewhere in the period

Herodotus (Histories 9.109–111) tells of this same king, Xerxes, swearing to give a woman whatever she asked. When she asked for a robe his wife had made, he tried to buy her off with cities and gold instead. Herodotus also says that at the royal birthday banquet the Persian king could refuse no request. In Mark 6:23 Herod Antipas promises Herodias' daughter 'up to half my kingdom,' very likely an echo of Esther. 1 Kgs 13:8 has a similar refusal of 'half your house.'

From the study of Exodus 12:29

Range of meaning

'In the half of the night': the middle of the night, the deepest point of darkness between dusk and dawn. Israelites divided the night into watches (three in the Hebrew Bible: Judg 7:19 'the middle watch'; Exod 14:24 'the morning watch'; Lam 2:19 'the beginning of the watches'), not into clock hours.

Against the English

English 'midnight' is a fine rendering, but modern readers hear 12:00 a.m. on a clock. The Hebrew points to the dead of night, not to an exact minute.

How it drifted

Mechanical timekeeping made 'midnight' a precise point. Ancient Israel had no such hour reckoning.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same phrase appears in Ruth 3:8 (Boaz wakes 'in the middle of the night') and Judg 16:3 (Samson rises 'at half the night'). Moses' announcement in Exod 11:4 uses a slightly different form, kachatsot hallaylah, 'about the middle of the night.' The rabbis noticed this: the Talmud (Berakhot 3b–4a) and Rashi discuss why Moses said 'about.' Wisdom of Solomon 18:14–15 recalls the moment poetically: 'when night in its swift course was half gone, your all-powerful word leaped from heaven.'

From the study of Esther 7:2

Range of meaning

"Half of the kingdom." Chatsi means "half"; malkhut means kingship, royal power, or the realm. Together they form a fixed expression of boundless royal generosity.

Against the English

English versions all translate it literally. That is correct, but some readers take it as a real offer of territory, or as a sign of how infatuated the king is. In the idiom it is closer to "anything at all, within reason."

How it drifted

Readers who don't know the convention of royal hyperbole take the words at face value.

Used elsewhere in the period

The king says it three times (5:3, 5:6, 7:2). Herodotus (9.109–111) tells how Xerxes, the king usually identified with Ahasuerus, made reckless open promises to women at a royal feast and was bound by them: at the royal birthday supper custom forbade refusing a request. Mark 6:23 has Herod Antipas swear to give Herodias's daughter "up to half of my kingdom" at a banquet. Many scholars see this as a deliberate echo of Esther.