Virtuous Violence? Considering Chapter 9 of Megilat Esther

(8) Haman then said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; and it is not in Your Majesty’s interest to tolerate them. (9) If it please Your Majesty, let an edict be drawn for their destruction, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the stewards for deposit in the royal treasury.” (10) Thereupon the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of the Jews. (11) And the king said, “The money and the people are yours to do with as you see fit.” (12) On the thirteenth day of the first month, the king’s scribes were summoned and a decree was issued, as Haman directed, to the king’s satraps, to the governors of every province, and to the officials of every people, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language. The orders were issued in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet. (13) Accordingly, written instructions were dispatched by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, massacre, and exterminate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on a single day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—and to plunder their possessions. (14) The text of the document was to the effect that a law should be proclaimed in every single province; it was to be publicly displayed to all the peoples, so that they might be ready for that day. (15) The couriers went out posthaste on the royal mission, and the decree was proclaimed in the fortress Shushan. The king and Haman sat down to feast, but the city of Shushan was dumfounded.

(7) Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Haman’s property to Esther, and he has been impaled on the stake for scheming against the Jews. (8) And you may further write with regard to the Jews as you see fit. [Write it] in the king’s name and seal it with the king’s signet, for an edict that has been written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet may not be revoked.” (9) So the king’s scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, that is, the month of Sivan; and letters were written, at Mordecai’s dictation, to the Jews and to the satraps, the governors and the officials of the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia: to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. (10) He had them written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet. Letters were dispatched by mounted couriers, riding steeds used in the king’s service, bred of the royal stud, (11) to this effect: The king has permitted the Jews of every city to assemble and fight for their lives; if any people or province attacks them, they may destroy, massacre, and exterminate its armed force together with women and children, and plunder their possessions— (12) on a single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar. (13) The text of the document was to be issued as a law in every single province: it was to be publicly displayed to all the peoples, so that the Jews should be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. (14) The couriers, mounted on royal steeds, went out in urgent haste at the king’s command; and the decree was proclaimed in the fortress Shushan. (15) Mordecai left the king’s presence in royal robes of blue and white, with a magnificent crown of gold and a mantle of fine linen and purple wool. And the city of Shushan rang with joyous cries. (16) The Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honor. (17) And in every province and in every city, when the king’s command and decree arrived, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many of the people of the land professed to be Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

And you should write regarding the Jews. Esther had asked of the king to revoke the decrees regarding the plan of Haman the Agagite. But the king said, you should write regarding the Jews as you see fit, that is, because the laws of Medea and Person do not allow the revocation of a decree after the fact, you should find another appropriate way to write a decree regarding the Jews that maintains my (the king's) honor and does not contradict the laws of Medea and Persia, which must be permanent. Because "an edict that has been written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet may not be revoked.” And once the first letters had been sealed with my signet ring, there as no way to reverse them. So you should find a wise way to effectively reverse them...

(1) And so, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—when the king’s command and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened, and the Jews got their enemies in their power. (2) Throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the Jews mustered in their cities to attack those who sought their hurt; and no one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples. (3) Indeed, all the officials of the provinces—the satraps, the governors, and the king’s stewards—showed deference to the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them. (4) For Mordecai was now powerful in the royal palace, and his fame was spreading through all the provinces; the man Mordecai was growing ever more powerful. (5) So the Jews struck at their enemies with the sword, slaying and destroying; they wreaked their will upon their enemies. (6) In the fortress Shushan the Jews killed a total of five hundred men. (7) They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, (8) Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, (9) Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, (10) the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the foe of the Jews. But they did not lay hands on the spoil. (11) When the number of those slain in the fortress Shushan was reported on that same day to the king, (12) the king said to Queen Esther, “In the fortress Shushan alone the Jews have killed a total of five hundred men, as well as the ten sons of Haman. What then must they have done in the provinces of the realm! What is your wish now? It shall be granted you. And what else is your request? It shall be fulfilled.” (13) “If it please Your Majesty,” Esther replied, “let the Jews in Shushan be permitted to act tomorrow also as they did today; and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on the stake.” (14) The king ordered that this should be done, and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan. Haman’s ten sons were impaled: (15) and the Jews in Shushan mustered again on the fourteenth day of Adar and slew three hundred men in Shushan. But they did not lay hands on the spoil. (16) The rest of the Jews, those in the king’s provinces, likewise mustered and fought for their lives. They disposed of their enemies, killing seventy-five thousand of their foes; but they did not lay hands on the spoil.

And the Jews struck at their enemies... and wreaked their will upon their haters. Here, one is called an "enemy" (oyev) who has loathing in one's heart even if one does not act on the loathing, but a "hater" (sonei) is one who demonstrates hatred and act oppressively, like the Amalekites and those like them. Because enemies (oyevim) who have loathing in their hearts alone, and not haters (son'im) who come to oppress in practice, a small number were struck with the sword... But those who were haters (son'im) and wished the worst [for the Jews], to fulfill the [king's] first letter and to destroy them, the Jews "wreaked their will"—that is, their own will, which was to destroy the Jews, and so it was done to them. For none of them was killing with the sword sufficient, as with the enemies (oyevim), but until they were truly annihilated.

And the Jews struck at their enemies... and wreaked their will upon their haters. It is certain that permission was not given to the Jews to kill whomever they wanted, because it was only written in the letters that they were to get revenge on their enemies. And after, because "no one could withstand them" under great duress, they only killed their enemies (oyevim)—those whose loathing for the Jews was famous and who spoke extensively of harming them—but not their haters (son'im) (because the difference between an enemy and a hater is that the enemy has open loathing, but a hater's hatred is not in the open). With the haters, they only "wreaked their will," that they were able to denigrate and humble them.

The Gemara points out a contradiction: Mordecai is referred to as a “Jew [Yehudi],” apparently indicating that he came from the tribe of Judah, but in the continuation of the verse he is called “Benjamite” [Yemini], which indicates that he came from the tribe of Benjamin... Rava said: The Congregation of Israel at the time said this from the opposite perspective, not as a boast, but as a complaint, remarking: See what a Judean has done to me and how a Benjamite has repaid me. What a Judean has done to me is referring to the responsibility of Judah, as David did not kill Shimei, although he was liable to the death penalty. The grave consequences of this failure included that Mordecai was born from him, and it was he against whom Haman was jealous, leading Haman to issue a decree against all of the Jewish people. And how a Benjamite has repaid me is referring to the fact that Saul, who was from the tribe of Benjamin, did not kill the Amalekite king Agag immediately, from whom Haman was later born, and he caused suffering to the Jewish people.

You and your father’s house will perish. And the reason is that Haman came forth from the sin of Saul, that he left Agag (king of Amalek) alive, and Haman is descended from him. And it was necessary that salvation should come through Esther, who is a descendant of Saul, and therefore Mordechai said that if salvation came for the Jews from another place, she and her father's house would certainly perish for the sin of Saul, since there would be no atonement for it.

How did the Jews muster "to attack those who sought their hurt"? Only those who, from the peoples of the land, were maternally related to the nation of Amalek. And "no one stood up before them" to protest their doing evil. And this, that "it was because the fear [of the Jews] had fallen upon them" because of the oversight of the sovereign. Because by law, they were could not do harm to the nation of Israel. But they could prevent them from dealing with their enemies. [The Jews] were confused about the issue, because at first the king had decreed that the people of Amalek could oppress the Jews harshly, and even now that the opposite was decreed, they did not act, because maybe [the king] would also go back on this decree. So this produced a compromise rather than true peace between them. Because Hashem cast fear upon them to wipe out the memory of Amalek, because it was a war for Hashem and his people, going back over generations, starting with the war that happened after the Exodus from Egypt.

"The Jews have killed and destroyed"—The word "and destroyed" is a bit challenging, because what destruction can there be after killing? It seems that the intention was to kill every family, so there should be no avenging party left, and the memory of those killed would be entirely gone from Shushan. And all of this killing was only of Amalekites, and because there is a commandment to wipe out the memory of Amalek, and Esther saw that were were still many Amalekites in Shushan that [the Jews] had not yet managed to kill on the one day, and that is the reason that she asked for an additional day [of fighting] in Shushan.

The rest of the Jews, those in the king’s provinces, likewise mustered and fought for their lives. They disposed of their enemies, killing seventy-five thousand of their foes; but they did not lay hands on the spoil.

Questions: This entire verse is extra, since we have already mentioned in verses 2, 3, and 5 how the Jews killed and eliminated their enemies. And it contradicts verse 2, which says that "no one could withstand them," and here, it says that they "mustered and fought for their lives"—that is, they battled. Why here does it say "they disposed of their enemies (oyevim), killing their haters (son'im)," and above (verse 5) it says they struck at their enemies (oyevim) and wreaked their will upon their haters (son'im)?

So: In verse 3 it speaks of the situation walled cities, where the officers were stationed and the king's soldier's were present to protect the Jews, and there, "no one could withstand them," and there were not required to fought for their lives or to battle. But here [in verse 16] it describes how things were in the villages, because in the small, unwalled cities and hamlets where there were no officers to defend the Jews and no royal forces, there their enemies really did raise a hand to fight against them. And so it tells that "the rest of the Jews, those in the king's provinces" that were not in walled cities "mustered and fought for their lives" and battled with their swords and weapons until "they disposed of their enemies," and gained the upper hand against them. that it why it says they "killed their haters," because those included the killing of all the offspring of Amalek after they won the war, which was not the case in the walled cities, where it says that they wreaked their will upon their haters and did not kill them, because there was no war between them.

...To parse the letter "נ" in "דנקהלו", that [the Jews] "were gathered" in the passive voice, this teaches that their only motivation was to do the will of G-d, who compelled them to gather and kill. Further, we can interpret that they "were gathered" [in all the provinces of the king] in the passive voice, but in Shushan, it says "and they gathered" [in the active voice]. Because Shushan was the seat of the monarchy, and there, the greatness of Mordechai and Esther was known. For this reason, [the Jews of Shushan] intentionally gathered to kill. This was not the case in the king's other provinces, where there was doubt about which of the king's decrees—the decree of Haman, or the degree of Mordechai and Esther—was genuine. And because of the fear and the duress, they were gathered [(in the passive voice)] to fight for their lives. And that is the intention of the verse above that says "And the rest of the Jews... were gathered [in the provinces] to fight for their lives."

"And the Jews in Shushan gathered (9:15)." But above, on the thirteenth day (9:5-6), on which the Jews also killed, it does not say "gathered" [regarding the fighting in Shushan]. Because it if said "gathered" above, it would be clear that without gathering together, [the Jews] would have been unable to finish the thing and to kill them. But that is not the case, because the fear of the Jews had already befallen them, and even if [the Jews] had not gathered, they would have been able to kill and eliminate them, because such was the fear of the Jews. And this was from G-d, and that's why it did not say "gathered." But regardless, because they did not rely on a miracle, they did gather together [to fight]. And because it was already written that they would have been able to finish the thing even if they had not gathered, it then wrote after the fact that, when they were in the midst of it, they did gather, and did what was worthy for them to do...

And regarding the other provinces, it is written "and they fought for their lives," because in other places [the Jews] were more fearful than they were in Shushan, because the king was there, and it was known that the king had gone back on his first decree. And also because there were Queen Esther and Mordechai the Jew, of whom all had become afraid, and so there was no need "to fight for their lives," because that would mean [the Jews] were afraid that others would kill them, which was not the case; they had no such fear [in Shushan]. But in the other provinces of the king they were afraid, and needed to fight for their lives, because perhaps people would only pay attention to the first letters, and say that the second letters had only come about as a ruse of Esther's. Therefore, they did not need to fight for their lives in Shushan, the capital, where Mordechai and Esther were...