From Haman to Hamas—Purim in Our Time
The Book of Esther (in Hebrew called the Scroll of Esther, as the liturgic reading in the synagogue is from a scroll) describes how the vicious Haman planned the annihilation of the Jewish people in Persia. This was in fact the second attempt of genocide on the Jews since Pharaoh’s in Egypt (Exodus 1:16). Haman’s plot was discovered by Mordecai who revealed it to his niece Esther. Esther had become queen of Persia after King Ahashverosh (Xerxes) had sent away his wife. Mordecai was an officer at the royal palace (Esther 2:19).
Mordecai and Esther were Jews, but because of her position, Esther had to hide her Jewishness and her relationship with Mordecai. Her name, in fact, could be heard as a pun on the Hebrew verb ‘to hide’. Mordecai, on the contrary, was openly Jewish. When Haman was elevated to the highest position in the realm under the king, and all people had to kneel for him, Mordecai did not kneel. That stirred the rage of Haman. His revenge was not satisfied with punishing only Mordecai. The whole Jewish nation was to be exterminated.
Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin. According to Jewish tradition, Benjaminites do not kneel, as their father did not kneel before Esau (Genesis 33), since he was not yet born then. Mordecai, moreover, was from the royal family of King Saul.
“Though Haman’s decree could not be withdrawn, an additional royal decree allowed the Jews to defend themselves…”
Haman is called the Agagite, which is generally understood as referring to his descent from Agag, the king of Amalek (1 Samuel 15:8). Amalek, a people descending from Esau, attacked the people of Israel in the back of the desert (Exodus 17). Therefore, Amalek became synonymous with cruelty and cowardice. Because of this, God commanded Israel to remember what Amalek did and to blot out the name of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:17-19).
When King Saul defeated Amalek (1 Samuel 15), he left King Agag alive, in disobedience of God’s explicit order. It was the prophet Samuel who actually killed Agag.
In the Esther Scroll, Haman the Agagite acted in the spirit of his ancestral people, plotting to eradicate Israel. In Haman and Mordecai, Saul and Agag were facing each other again. Mordecai was put in the position of restoring the failure of his ancestor Saul.
In the end, everything was turned upside down. Haman ended up impaled on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Though Haman’s decree could not be withdrawn, an additional royal decree allowed the Jews to defend themselves and destroy the armed men who might attack them and their women and children, and plunder the property of their enemies (Esther 8:11). Even many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them (Esther 8:17).
The nation of Amalek disappeared from the scene of history. Yet, Israel is still told to remember what Amalek did to them in the desert. The nation of Amalek no longer exists, but the notion of Amalek, the concept of groundless enmity against the Jews, has passed through the times and is more vivid than ever.
On 7 October 2023, Israel was brutally attacked by surprise by Palestinian terrorists. The spirit of Amalek had returned. Since then, every Jew in the world is under threat. At the same time, a surrealistic turnaround of perpetrator and victim has taken place. The state of Israel that is defending itself is accused of genocide, and every Jew in the world, whether he likes it or not, is associated with Israel.
As I am writing this, the first three hostages have just been released. An ordinary sense of justice would demand the unconditional release of all the hostages at once. I hope that there will be a turnaround like in Esther’s days, where the ‘fear of the Jews’ will make the nations join Israel instead of attacking Israel.
