For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.” – Esther 7:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 9, 2014): Esther 7

Emperor Hirohito was absolved from any charges of war crimes following the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. The official line seems to have been that while we may never know how much the Emperor was involved in the events that happened during World War II, he was the reason that the war ended. It was Hirohito that convinced the leaders of Japan that the Americans could be trusted, and it was at Hirohito’s command that the Japanese army laid down their weapons. The reality was that if the Emperor was convicted and then executed for his crimes, stability in Japan would be lost, and it is likely that in some way or other the war between Japan and the United States would most likely continue - and may be still being fought over sixty years later. So the expedient thing, was to absolve the Emperor of any involvement – and allow the Emperor – who the Japanese treated like their god - to continue his ceremonial reign.

Esther brings the charges to be laid on Haman at the feet of the king, and she is very explicit with the words that she uses as she accuses the king’s lieutenant. First, her people had been sold. Haman had offered the king money in return for his act of vengeance against the Jewish nation. This constituted a financial agreement rather than a political one. It was not that the Jewish people had risen up against the empire and constituted a danger that needed to be dealt with. This was financial agreement where someone, actually in this case the king himself, could benefit from their extermination with a monetary gain. If it happened in the Star Trek universe, this might be a deal worthy of Ferengi – the fictional race of merchants willing to do anything for profit.

The second charge is the scope of the plan. This was not a plan to simply enslave people. There is good reason for why Esther would not have brought that to the king. The Empire routinely made nations their slaves – and the Jewish people had fallen into slavery themselves more than once during the history of the nation. But this wasn’t a plan to enslave, this was a plan set toward genocide and, to Esther, genocide went beyond the morals of even that day.

But there is also a bit of a hidden charge in our English translations. The words that Esther uses alludes to the fact that the king himself will lose if the extermination is carried out. Not only will she be dead and her uncle, who the king has just honored, but a whole race of workers would be eliminated from the Empire. And the cost of losing those workers would in the end be more than any financial gain that the king may be able to obtain by letting the plan go through. In the end this was not a good bargain, and the king needed to see that.

However, Esther stops short of accusing the king of wrongdoing. This is not his doing, but he is the one who is being misled. And as much as he may not have been the one to initiate the action against her people, he is the one who can stop it. One word from him and the campaign for the genocide of her people will end. All that the king has to do is to speak the word – and people would lay down their weapons.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Esther 8