A critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community

Rereading of Esther 3:8–15 depicts that lawlessness and revolt on the part of the Jewish diaspora community ignited the genocide in the Persian Empire. The narrative is explicit that Haman was not comfortable with two main issues concerning the Jews: (1) their laws were different from those of every...

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Autor principal:	Temba T. Rugwiji
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	AF EN NL
Publicado:	AOSIS 2021
Materias:	genocide jewish diaspora community lawlessness persia revolt The Bible BS1-2970 Practical Theology BV1-5099
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4caa559eaac349b8996e229d5fa8797f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4caa559eaac349b8996e229d5fa8797f2021-11-24T07:40:40ZA critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community0259-94222072-805010.4102/hts.v77i4.6247https://doaj.org/article/4caa559eaac349b8996e229d5fa8797f2021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6247https://doaj.org/toc/0259-9422https://doaj.org/toc/2072-8050Rereading of Esther 3:8–15 depicts that lawlessness and revolt on the part of the Jewish diaspora community ignited the genocide in the Persian Empire. The narrative is explicit that Haman was not comfortable with two main issues concerning the Jews: (1) their laws were different from those of every other people and (2) they did not keep the king’s laws. In addition, some Jewish individuals were disrespectful to Persian superiors: Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman. Following Haman’s report, Emperor Xerxes endorsed the proposition of exterminating the Jews as a possible solution. The present study argues against a populist view that puts Haman in a bad light. Existing studies on the genocide narrative in Esther 3:8–15 appear to sympathise with the Jewish diaspora community in Persia in spite of their attitude that portrayed some rebellious tendencies. Examined from a security and defence perspective, Haman’s position should be given its merit because the Jews disobeyed the Persian laws and did not show respect to the Persian authorities. The study employs a narrative approach to argue that the Jewish diaspora community orchestrated the genocide by disobeying the Persian laws. It is further argued that Haman had correctly foreseen it coming and confided with Emperor Xerxes. The study will also discuss Haman as a strategist who speculated a possible Jewish revolt, which was confirmed by the massacre of 75 000 people including Haman’s children (9:1–10). This study will present to the academic readership a new dimension of reading Esther 3:8–15. Contribution: Previous studies variously provided some magnanimity on the book of Esther. The contribution of the present study to the readership and the academic community seeks to suggest a new reading of the book by arguing that the Jews provoked the Persian authorities by disobeying the laws of the land.Temba T. RugwijiAOSISarticlegenocidejewish diaspora communitylawlessnesspersiarevoltThe BibleBS1-2970Practical TheologyBV1-5099AFENNLHTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies , Vol 77, Iss 4, Pp e1-e7 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	AF EN NL
topic	genocide jewish diaspora community lawlessness persia revolt The Bible BS1-2970 Practical Theology BV1-5099
spellingShingle	genocide jewish diaspora community lawlessness persia revolt The Bible BS1-2970 Practical Theology BV1-5099 Temba T. Rugwiji A critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community
description	Rereading of Esther 3:8–15 depicts that lawlessness and revolt on the part of the Jewish diaspora community ignited the genocide in the Persian Empire. The narrative is explicit that Haman was not comfortable with two main issues concerning the Jews: (1) their laws were different from those of every other people and (2) they did not keep the king’s laws. In addition, some Jewish individuals were disrespectful to Persian superiors: Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman. Following Haman’s report, Emperor Xerxes endorsed the proposition of exterminating the Jews as a possible solution. The present study argues against a populist view that puts Haman in a bad light. Existing studies on the genocide narrative in Esther 3:8–15 appear to sympathise with the Jewish diaspora community in Persia in spite of their attitude that portrayed some rebellious tendencies. Examined from a security and defence perspective, Haman’s position should be given its merit because the Jews disobeyed the Persian laws and did not show respect to the Persian authorities. The study employs a narrative approach to argue that the Jewish diaspora community orchestrated the genocide by disobeying the Persian laws. It is further argued that Haman had correctly foreseen it coming and confided with Emperor Xerxes. The study will also discuss Haman as a strategist who speculated a possible Jewish revolt, which was confirmed by the massacre of 75 000 people including Haman’s children (9:1–10). This study will present to the academic readership a new dimension of reading Esther 3:8–15. Contribution: Previous studies variously provided some magnanimity on the book of Esther. The contribution of the present study to the readership and the academic community seeks to suggest a new reading of the book by arguing that the Jews provoked the Persian authorities by disobeying the laws of the land.
format	article
author	Temba T. Rugwiji
author_facet	Temba T. Rugwiji
author_sort	Temba T. Rugwiji
title	A critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community
title_short	A critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community
title_full	A critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community
title_fullStr	A critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community
title_full_unstemmed	A critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community
title_sort	critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in esther 3:8–15: lawlessness and revolt of the jewish diaspora community
publisher	AOSIS
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/4caa559eaac349b8996e229d5fa8797f
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A critical evaluation of causalities of the genocide in Esther 3:8–15: Lawlessness and revolt of the Jewish diaspora community

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