{"id":18177,"date":"2023-10-18T16:58:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T20:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/?p=18177"},"modified":"2023-10-18T16:58:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T20:58:44","slug":"esther-89-11-does-the-bible-command-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/esther-89-11-does-the-bible-command-genocide\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther 8:9-11 – Does the Bible command genocide?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem:<\/strong> The book of Esther records, \u201cSo the king\u2019s scribes were called\u2026 and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces\u2026 He wrote in the name of King [Xerxes], and sealed it with the king\u2019s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud. 11 In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil\u201d (Esther 8:9-11). Does this mean that God commanded genocide?
\n
\nSolution:<\/strong> A number of observations can be made:<\/p>\n

First, Xerxes command couldn\u2019t be revoked. In the ancient Persian culture, the king was viewed as a god, and he needed to be viewed as infallible. Therefore, Mordecai inaugurated another decree (as the king\u2019s right hand man) in order to protect the Jewish people. Remember the original command from Haman was \u201cto destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day\u201d (Esther 3:13).<\/p>\n

Second, this was an edict for self-defense. Esther records, \u201cThe king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives\u201d (Esther 8:11). In a \u201ckill or be killed\u201d scenario like this, Mordecai (under the authority of Xerxes) ordered the people to defend themselves. The text never states that the Jewish people hunted down Agagites. Instead, this only describes self-defense on this day.<\/p>\n

Third, the Agagites had been trying genocide for years. The Agagites were a people from the Amalekite ethnic group (1 Sam. 15:8), and the Amalekites (Agagites) had been trying to commit genocide on the Jewish people for a millennium (Ex. 17). Haman was an Agagite (Esther 3:1), and if they weren\u2019t rebutted, the Jewish people would\u2019ve been exterminated.<\/p>\n

Fourth, this decree was allowed for one day\u2014not ongoing war. Mordecai\u2019s decree was only \u201con one day in all the provinces of King [Xerxes]\u201d (Esther 8:12). This shows that Mordecai was trying to give the people the power for self-defense on the day of Haman\u2019s former edict. This would prevent an ongoing \u201cHatfield and McCoy\u201d type blood feud that would last for centuries.<\/p>\n

Fifth, there is no record of actually harming women and children. While Mordecai\u2019s decree did include \u201cwomen and children,\u201d there is no record of this actually being carried out. No historical record in the book of Esther demonstrates that women and children were harmed. Most likely, this caveat was made because it mirrored Haman\u2019s original decree, and allowed for self-defense\u2014even in this odd circumstance.<\/p>\n

Sixth, the Jewish people didn\u2019t plunder the people. This battle wasn\u2019t about money or greed\u2014just self-defense, as we have been arguing throughout. Esther records, \u201cThey did not lay their hands on the plunder\u201d (Esther 9:10).<\/p>\n

Conclusion
\nThus for these reasons, to call this event \u201cgenocide\u201d could not be further from the truth. This was an act of self-defense in the midst of fallen circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Problem: The book of Esther records, \u201cSo the king\u2019s scribes were called\u2026 and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces\u2026 He wrote in the name of King [Xerxes], and sealed it with the king\u2019s signet ring, and sent letters byContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,8,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-errors","category-bible-study","category-bible-teaching","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}