It has been quite sometime since the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmed Ahmadinejad, has spewed venomous anti-Semitic denunciations against Israel; denying the historical evidence of the ‘Holocaust’ while at the same time calling for her destruction. Unlike Iran’s neighbors; the Palestinians, Syrians, Iraqis, Saudis, and other Arabs, the Iranians are not only have the unique distinction of sharing the religious tradition of “Islam," but they are racially and culturally ‘Farsi’-speaking Persians.
There is an ancient tie that binds these two great people in a way that is rarely spoken of, vigorously denied, and nearly ignored; but it is recorded in the Jewish sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament. In fact, were it not for the Iranians [‘Persians’], the Jewish people might not even exist, or at least in the numbers that they do as far as population; not to mention the existence of modern Israel as a free and independent State.
In a far distant past the great King Ahaseurus, ruler of Media and Persia [‘Iran’] unwittingly passed a royal decree through an act of deceit and subterfuge by one of his court officials which amounted to essentially, a death sentence for any ‘Jew’ living throughout the kingdom. However, because of the king’s great affection and love for a beautiful Jewish female named “Esther” [‘Hadassah’] who became his Queen in place of ‘Vashti,’ he issued another royal edict which gave the Jewish people the right not only to defend themselves against their enemies, but that they could locate, pursue [‘hunt down’] and destroy them as well; which they convincingly and ultimately did. The following is a brief highlight of this remarkable historic event.
ESTHER
3: 2, 4, 5-6
And all the King’s servants who were within the King’s gate bowed and paid homage to ‘Haman,’ for so the King had commanded concerning him. But ‘Mordecai’ would not bow down or pay homage. Then the King’s servants who were within the King’s gate said to see if Mordecai’s words would stand; for Mordecai told them that he was a “Jew.” When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of “the people of Mordecai.” Instead, Haman sought to destroy ‘all’ the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahaseurus- “the people of Mordecai.”
8, 9a, 13a
Then Haman said to King Ahaseurus, “There is a ‘people’ scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other peoples, and they do not keep the King’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the King to let them remain [‘live’]. If it pleases the King, let a decree be written that they be destroyed. And the letters were sent by couriers into all the King’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to ‘annihilate’ all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women.
7: 3-4a
Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O King, and if it pleases the King, let my life be given to me at my petition, and ‘my people’ at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be ‘annihilated.’
8: 11a
By the letters the King permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and protect their lives- to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them; both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions (??).
9: 1b
On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overcome them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them.
So, after this reading, it is a little strange to hear a Persian [‘Iranian’] leader or people speak with such hatred about exterminating the Jews when three of their ancient kings (Cp. Ezra 6: 14b; Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes) were their benefactors; not only allowing them to return to their homeland but provided the resources to help the returning Jewish exiles to rebuild the Temple as well as the walls of Jerusalem that had fallen down.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
March 20, 2009
pbks@hotmail.com
