Yoram Hazony
Commentary Magazine, March 2016
“Strength attracts strength, and power attracts power. Thus the weak, to the degree they can make themselves seem strong, can attract the support of the strong, thereby becoming strong in reality.”
As the book of Esther reaches its climax, the Jews of Persia have turned political defeat into political triumph. Esther, the young Jewish queen of Persia, has taken on the Hitler-like vizier, Haman, deploying political and sexual innuendo to drive a wedge between him and the king, Ahashverosh (whom the Greeks called Xerxes). It was Haman who had persuaded the king to order the extermination of every Jew in the Persian Empire, and this royal edict remains in force.
But Esther’s attack on the vizier has brought about a dramatic shift in power. Esther succeeds in having Haman deposed and hanged, and she positions her cousin Mordecai as the new vizier in his place. And after two months of nail-biting tension, she is able to get the king to issue a second decree, which permits the Jews of Persia to raise up a military force with which to defend themselves.
When the day Haman had appointed for the massacre comes eight months later, the Jews use this strength to deal a deathblow to anti-Semitic power in the empire. They kill more than 75,000 men, lay waste to its leadership, and establish a deterrent against future threats to the Jewish communities of Persia. Perhaps most significant, the crushing of the anti-Semitic nemesis establishes the position of the new Jewish vizier with the king, ensuring that Ahashverosh’s authority will be wielded in such a way as to protect the Jewish interest for years to come.
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