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Yoram Hazony explains how God's purposes are realized in human initiative.
Esther is a book of the Bible that does not refer to God explicitly even once. On the surface, it is a story about political intrigue, sex, and violence. Yet the rabbis of the Talmud lavish praise on this work, asserting that there are two portions of Scripture that would never cease to be relevant to mankind: the books of Moses and the Book of Esther. And while they taught that the other parts of the Bible could bring an understanding of piety, wisdom, consolation, and greatness, it was only the Book of Esther that they thought offered the key to the miraculous.
How can a work in which God is not mentioned, and in which every turn of its dense plot is the result of human decision and human action, hold the key to understanding the miraculous? This is not merely an exegetical or theological question. Contemporary readers need to reckon with the miraculous character of the Book of Esther, for it illuminates the possibilities and limits of political action, possibilities and limits we too often neglect.
The basic outline of the Esther story is familiar. It takes place in the court of Ahashverosh, king of Persia (apparently Xerxes I, who ruled Persia from 486 to 465 bc). Fearing for his safety after a failed attempt on his life, the king appoints a Hitlerlike adviser, Haman, to be prime minister, and orders all of Persia to prostrate itself before his absolute rule. When a Jewish official, Mordechai, refuses to accept this decision, Haman persuades the king to exterminate all the Jews of the empire.
What can a scattered and apparently powerless people do in the face of such evil? The Bible offers us an answer in the story of Esther, Mordechai's orphaned cousin, whom he has raised from childhood. Mordechai teaches Esther how to win favor in the court, and, with determination and skill, she succeeds in gaining the attention of the king and becoming queen of-Persia. But when the decree to murder her people is announced, Esther faces a bone-chilling demand from her cousin Mordechai: He tells her that she must go in to Ahashverosh and demand that he repeal...