As in Josephus, the execution of Haman in the Septuagint (LXX) seems to be a crucifixion (stauro o ; Greek Esther 7:10). The LXX term for the gallows, however, is not stauros but xulov, "tree" (Thornton 1986: 421). Josephus refers to the incident where Haman "a tree [xulon] sixty cubits high to be cut down, and in the morning ask the king for leave to crucify [anastaurosai] Mordecai" on "gallows [xulon]" or "cross [stauron]" made from it, but Haman himself is "hanged [ekeinou] on that very same cross [stauron] till he was dead" (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 11.246ff)
I don't see how it is possible to argue that Greek speaking Jews at least made OR WERE MADE to see some sort of connection between the crucifixion of Jesus and Haman in the first century. How could such a connection have been ignored? Jesus is clearly crucified on the sixteenth of Nisan and Haman on the seventeenth.
Both were undoubtedly 'buried' on the same day interestingly enough - the seventeenth of Nisan.
I am very busy today but I think it worth noting that in many gnostic traditions and R. Meir's reflection on the Passion (identified as such by Travers Herford) there is another clear echo of the account of Esther - i.e. the idea that a 'trading of places' occurred where the one who was supposed to be crucified is 'saved' by the accuser being hanged in his stead.
Just as Mordecai is 'replaced' by Haman on the cross, the Semitic tradition culminating in Islam understands Judas to have replaced Jesus.
For those who can't wait read this. The reader should also recall the Marcosian interest in Jesus as 'thirty' - the name Judas has a numerological value of thirty in Hebrew.
More to follow ...
