Zone1 Discrepancy between Esther 4:16 and 5:1?

[rstrats]

Esther said that she would fast for 3 days, night or day, and that after doing that, that she would go to the king. However, verse 5:1 says that she went to the king on the 3rd day. How can she go to the king on the 3rd day and at the same time go after the 3rd day?

 

[Blackrook]

Same reason Jesus rose on the third day, but it was really two days. People at the time didn't have the concept of zero.

 

[rosends]

It doesn't say she will go AFTER the third day. It says "and thusly" (the Hebrew, u'v'chen means a lot more than "and then" -- Klein's dictionary reads "and so, if so, thus, therefore, well.")

She is saying that she and her maidens will fast also and thusly will she approach the king. And she does, as she goes to him towards the evening when she would still be fasting until nightfall.

The Talmud records that she survived naturally but other texts posit that one cannot actually fast for three days without some sort of miracle (and one opinion says that there was some eating happening at night (literally, the text says "fast on my behalf night and day" which certain commentators see as establishing a day fast and a night fast which would interrupted by a small amount of food which kept people from passing out.

The commentary by Immanuel of Rome (14th century) reads
ר"ל אחרי שצותה צמה שני ימים לילה ויום הלכה ביום השלישי בעודה בתעניתה ולבשה בגדי מלכות ובא קצר:

(my translation) "what the text means is that after she commanded them, she fasted 2 nights and days and went on the third day while she was still fasting and got dressed up in her royal clothing, and then shortly after that, she went to the king's court.