A post by Maynard; bumped from 2007
This has been the week of the annual commemoration of Purim (pronounced POOR-im), which is a Jewish celebration of the events in the Bible’s Book of Esther.
A short description of the background of Purim is here. I recently noted the 2006 movie, One Night with the King, which dramatized the tale.
The story is set in Persia (Iran!), and the villain is Haman, an evil adviser to the King who contrives to have all the Jews of the kingdom killed. Ultimately the plot is thwarted, and Haman is hanged. “Haman” is a name that lives on in infamy, much like “Hitler”.
I’ll mention a couple interesting of specific details. One is that the Book of Esther is unusual in that it doesn’t specifically mention God, nor are there any instances of overt divine intervention. Rather, the story plays out in a logical way. We may read into this that the will of God may come about through subtle means. Not everything He does is as dramatic as the parting of the Red Sea.
In Esther 8, the King issues an edict to save the Jews from Haman’s plan. But there was a problem to be overcome:
5 “If it pleases the king,” [Esther] said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.
6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”
7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows.
8 Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring — for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”
In other words, for technical and legalistic reasons, the King’s earlier order authorizing the murder of the Jews could not be revoked. So the King cleverly issued a proclamation which would effectively block the implementation of the earlier orders without actually revoking them. The King issued this special authorization to the Jews:
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Of course I’m kidding on that point. Sort of. But the reality is quite similar. The King authorized the Jews to defend themselves with deadly force against anyone who came against them. The actual Bible quote is this:
11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.
And you know what happened? The people who were going to kill the Jews decided to let them live. In fact:
17 In every province and in every city, wherever the edict of the king went, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.
So aside from everything else, you now have the Biblical derivation of the Second Amendment.
I wonder if the release of the movie 300 was timed to coincide with this date.
It is an odd time to release such a movie, where so much money and hype had been expended.
The blog ATLAS SHRUGS noted that some preacher down South is trying to get SIX MILLION American children to remember Israel and the Jews in their prayers this weekend.
That’s a good idea.
For the waters of strife are rising, and the thunderclouds of war approach.
After reading the Book of Esther again, the following occurred to me:
1) Being pretty can’t hurt, but clever is better.
2) Don’t get too big for your britches.
3) Remember where you came from and be true to yourself.
4) You’re bound to reap what you sow.
And,
5) It’s good for the good to have a gun. (Bad guys don’t like it.)
Very cool lesson. 🙂
Dan makes a very interesting point: Xerxes was a very complex, almost enigmatic historical figure. Here he is, encouraging the Jews to defend themselves, even potentially against his own government; meanwhile, on the other side of his empire, he was trying to grind the Greeks into powder. The Achaemenid kings of Persia were a self-important lot to say the least: maybe he would’ve been perfectly happy to leave Greece with a measure of self-rule as long as they acknowledged him as the rightful ruler of the world he and his forebears saw themselves as, which of course they refused to do. Had that war turned out differently, the West, as such as we know it, simply would not exist.
Oy! The goyem are teaching the Bible! I should live so long! And I have! This is probably where the Presbyterians came up with “ The Lord helps them the help themselves.†Which the Puritans took to mean if you wait for God to hwlp you you may wait in vain.
Had there been an Ester 70 years ago I do not think it would have helped nor mattered. The Socialist Labor Party was committed to killing Juden.
Hey ROD–Goyem???
Here’s one just for you:
“A nahr bleibt a nahr.”
Kim – You got me
a bad —- —- is not good?
OK you two, I googled “A nahr bleibt a nahr” and got “A fool remains a fool.” Rod, I think Kim just called you a fool.
To Tammy, thanks for lending strong credence to the “Judeo” part of our Judeo-Christian heritage.
To Ester and the Jews, thanks for handing down what ultimately became our Second Amendment rights.
A good post for 2007 or 2008, Maynard.
It is also worth noting that, as tradition would have it, it is expected that the celebrants of Purim become, as they say, merry with wine.
Speaking of the second ammendment,
as the supremes sit to determine if gun ownership is an indiviual right, the California politbeureau has AB 2062 on the floor for discussion. The bill will require anyone who wants to purchase handgun ammunition to get a license, go through yet another background check, prove that they have secure storage and pay a $3 transfer tax per 50 rnd. box of ammo. It also forbids the purchase of handgun ammunition from outside the state, and makes it illegal to privately transfer more than 50 rounds to another person. So if you’re at the range with a friend, and you are both using from the same .22 525 pack, you could be arrested. For god’s sake everbody join the NRA. I e-mailed all of my reps. and all I got back was a request for a campaign donation. Not a word about their position or how they would vote on it. Just — thanks for your input, now give me some money so I can stonewall you some more.
” god’ is not mentioned in the Book of Esther because quite simply the Elamite Jews from which the book allegedly derives did not worship a male god or yahwey. Esther is the hebrew version of the name Ishtar who is the Goddess the actual events revolve around. Her consort is Marduk( here Mordecai) who She makes king by sleeping with him- then he is usually- as in the long procession of ‘ kings’ before him- sacrificed( in the hebrew version haman is sacraficed in his place to appease the Goddess NOT the ‘ king’ or ‘the people’). it’s a convoluted but classic take on the consort/ king sacrifice common to all the Goddess worshipping cults- the cults from which both judaism and christianity derive. it is not by accident that purim and the sacrifice of the so called christ king happen at the same time of year- spring- when the green man must be killed to ensure the fertile harvest. a blood sacrifice to She of a Thousand Names.
purim is based on an even more ancient hittite festival called Purulli. there’s a competition or lots are cast for the honor of being the next victim/ sacrifice to the Goddess. in christianity the bread and wine are the body and blood of the victim. at purim as in egypt you eat triangular cakes that represent the same victim of what is essentially the same sacrifice from religion to religion. when the consort is dead he becomes god.small g.
sound familiar?
it is Ishtar/Esther who saves the jews by accepting the sacrifice of haman. later in the book of esther 75,000 are killed not by the jews but by Her intercession because they ‘ laid not their hands on the prey” in other words they did not arm themselves (but scores of nonjews are instead killed). they didn’t have to- it is fear of the Goddess behind the goddess worshipping jews that effects the victory and saves the jews.