King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, "Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?" – Esther 7:5

 Today's Scripture Reading (September 22, 2020): Esther 7

Sixteenth-century Renaissance writer, Francois Rabelais, argued that "ignorance is the mother of all evils." Sometimes that ignorance is hard to explain. The problem is that we should know, but, for some reason, we don't. Or maybe we do know, but we willingly turn our back on that knowledge because not knowing is easier. But the difference between real ignorance and feigned failure to understand might be only recognized by the person claiming ignorance. After all, the central questions of the Watergate investigation were who knew what and when did they know it.

There seems to be a gap between what King Xerxes knew and what he should have known. After all, Haman came to Xerxes to ask that a proclamation be issued that would, in the send, exterminate the Jews, the same crime that Esther is alleging. So that leaves us with a question; is it possible that Xerxes did not connect the accusation of Esther with the request that Haman had made of the King and the proclamation that Xerxes issued, or is he just pretending to have not known. At least on the surface, it would seem that Xerxes was as guilty as Hamon was about the Jewish situation. No, it was not Xerxes's idea, and Haman was guilty of exaggerating the danger to the empire, but, in the end, Xerxes did issue the order. The bottom line was that Xerxes trusted Hamon. Hamon failed the King, but because of Xerxes's trust, Hamon's error became the King's.

And it is possible that Xerxes completely understood what was happening, but now that decision wasn't playing well with the people who mattered in the King's court, he denies what is evident that he should have known. His feigned ignorance becomes his excuse. We have all known politicians who have done precisely this, rejecting the uncomfortable truths that were present in their circles of influence because it was easier.

But we can also give Xerxes the benefit of the doubt and argue that maybe the King really didn't know what was in the mandate. Like many world leaders, both past and present, he might have allowed an advisor or advisors to work on the wording of the edict and then have the order brought to him for his final approval. Xerxes might have simply trusted Haman and approved the decree without bothering to read it. And, in that case, it is his ignorance that becomes the root of all of the evil that followed.

It is a politician's dilemma, but it also ours. We frequently have to confront evil in our lives that is a direct result of our wrong decisions. But sometimes, we are forced to confront an evil that is a direct result of our ignorance. Our temptation is to excuse the sin on which we have acted in ignorance; after all, we didn't know. But the truth is that we should have known. Rather than excuse our behavior based on what we didn't know, we need to commit that next time we will know. Because it is not always just who knew what and when did they know it, but it is also what is it that they should have known.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Esther 8