Bad Theology
Text for today: Esther 8 ix-xi, 9 i-xvi
When his queen refuses his drunken command to show herself off during a party, King Ahasuerus dismisses her in favour of the more ostensibly tractable Esther, whose cousin and guardian Mordecai thereby gains influence at the court. Esther foils a plot by Haman to have all the Jews in the realm exterminated, and the king gives Mordecai a free hand in exacting retribution. While Esther successfully pleads for the execution of Haman's ten sons, Mordecai writes to the king's officers throughout the realm, ordering that the Jews should be allowed to carry out a pogrom against their enemies. As a result, and with the collaboration of the authorities, more than seventy-five thousand people are lynched.
Although it was right in the sight of God to punish infractions by wiping out the perpetrator's family, the king is apparently inclined to stop after hanging Haman until Esther pushes for further measures. It is unclear by what means the Jews determined who should be subjected to their collective revenge: whether offenders were incriminated by their deeds, their words, their looks or simply by divine inspiration.
The book of Esther thus proudly presents the Jews as insidious and vengeful aliens perpetually worming their way into society's higher echelons in order to further their own tribal interests; it may even be the Ur-text for this disastrous stereotype. Of course God could not fail to foresee the consequences of this image for His chosen people; which no doubt explains why He inspired them not only to perpetuate the story but commemorate it with a festival. Like any abusive parent, He understood the need to make of the outside world an enemy in common, and thus give His victims no other choice but to rely on His own dubious mercies.
When his queen refuses his drunken command to show herself off during a party, King Ahasuerus dismisses her in favour of the more ostensibly tractable Esther, whose cousin and guardian Mordecai thereby gains influence at the court. Esther foils a plot by Haman to have all the Jews in the realm exterminated, and the king gives Mordecai a free hand in exacting retribution. While Esther successfully pleads for the execution of Haman's ten sons, Mordecai writes to the king's officers throughout the realm, ordering that the Jews should be allowed to carry out a pogrom against their enemies. As a result, and with the collaboration of the authorities, more than seventy-five thousand people are lynched.
Although it was right in the sight of God to punish infractions by wiping out the perpetrator's family, the king is apparently inclined to stop after hanging Haman until Esther pushes for further measures. It is unclear by what means the Jews determined who should be subjected to their collective revenge: whether offenders were incriminated by their deeds, their words, their looks or simply by divine inspiration.
The book of Esther thus proudly presents the Jews as insidious and vengeful aliens perpetually worming their way into society's higher echelons in order to further their own tribal interests; it may even be the Ur-text for this disastrous stereotype. Of course God could not fail to foresee the consequences of this image for His chosen people; which no doubt explains why He inspired them not only to perpetuate the story but commemorate it with a festival. Like any abusive parent, He understood the need to make of the outside world an enemy in common, and thus give His victims no other choice but to rely on His own dubious mercies.
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