The stories that help us kill
This week’s scripture passage is from Esther, a relatively short book that doesn’t show up very often in our schedule of readings. So rather than concentrate on just this week’s passage, since — like me — you might require a refresher, I’m going to share the full story of Esther.
King Ahasuerus was a Persian ruler whose territory stretched from India to Ethiopia. (You might recall that the Persians replaced the Babylonians as occupiers of the land we know now as Israel.) The king was quite wealthy, and decided to hold a royal banquet extending 180 days.
On the seventh day of the banquet, after a lot of wine had been consumed, the king asked his attendants to bring his wife, Queen Vashti, to the banquet “in order to show the peoples and the officials her beauty; for she was fair to behold. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command.”
[I have to side with the queen on this one. Who wants to be “admired” before a crowd of men who have been drinking for a week?]
The king was distressed at this act of disobedience, and summoned his sages of the law. One of them expressed concern that “this deed of the queen will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt on their husbands.” This sounds like a “slippery slope” argument to me, but nonetheless a decree went out across the kingdom that the queen would be replaced and that “all women [were to] give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.”
To replace Vashti, “beautiful young virgins” were rounded up from the kingdom and added to the king’s harem. There they underwent “cosmetic treatments” for a year before being presented to the king in turn. One woman in particular stood out: Esther, the adopted daughter of Mordecai, who was a Jewish man related to some who had been exiled by the Babylonians. Ahasuerus chooses her as his queen. Mordecai advises Esther never to reveal that she is Jewish.
Shortly thereafter, Mordecai learns of a plot to kill the king. He shares this with Esther, who shares it with the king, and the plot is foiled.
A character named Haman is introduced. The king gives him the highest standing of all his officials, which means subjects are to bow when he passes by. Mordecai does not, which leads Haman to speak with some who are familiar with Mordecai. He learns Mordecai is Jewish, and his anger was so great he “plotted to destroy all the Jews.” He tells King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws.” He offers a large sum of money to the king to let him carry out his plan. The king gives Haman that authority, and letters go out across the kingdom “giving orders to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day.”
Mordecai learns of this plan, and pleads with Esther to approach the king on behalf of the Jews. She hesitates to do so since people are only to approach the king if summoned. Mordecai replies by saying, “Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”
Haman understood how things worked in the court of King Ahasuerus. Using the proper channels in society, he was able to have himself appointed to a high position. He discovered someone not properly obeying the dictates of the king, and he took action to have that individual and others with similar beliefs executed. You might say he was just following orders. Yes, people would be killed as a result, but in the story Haman told himself, they deserved it.
Last Tuesday, a Black man named Marcellus Williams was executed by the state of Missouri. This despite the pleas of his prosecutors and the victim’s family to halt the execution. Since his original sentencing, it was discovered that a Black man was removed from the jury due to his race. In addition, the murder weapon was contaminated by investigators. (Von Quednow and Yan)
Williams is not the only person who died at the hands of the state during the past few days. Executions also took place in Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas, marking the first time in more than 20 years that five were conducted in seven days. (Murphy)
Carrying out executions has become more challenging in some ways. Some of the companies who supplied the drugs used for lethal injection have had a change of heart, so the executioners have had to develop new ways of killing people, including by suffocating them to death using nitrogen.
What stories must we tell ourselves to continue this practice of killing our citizens, even after it has been abandoned in most countries? Do people who kill people deserve to be killed? Is redemption impossible? Does such punishment discourage others from engaging in violence? What stories must the judges who denied a stay of execution tell themselves to push through the killing of a man whose sentence had been called into doubt in fundamental ways? What must those who secure the methods of that killing tell themselves? What must those who perform the act of killing tell themselves? What stories must we continue to tell ourselves as the sponsors of such executions? Since 1973, the US has executed around 1,600 people. (Death Penalty Information Center) Many were found to have been innocent after their death. Yet we continue this ineffective practice, even with the knowledge that it runs counter to Biblical teachings and the will of an increasing number of U.S. citizens. (Rahman) Those in power refuse to remove this barbaric practice from our collective story.
When the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks occurs each year, I can’t help but also remember the stories that were told months later to justify the war in Iraq. The death of 3,000 people in our country was a horrible tragedy, but sadly some who sought to gain profit and influence used it as a premise to launch a war against a country that played no role in the September 11 attacks. The 3,000 deaths in the U.S. were used to justify an invasion that killed over 281,000 Iraqis, most of whom were civilians. (Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs) While we should never forget those who died on September 11, we should also never forget how the stories told by those seeking power and money can lead us down a dark path.
When we left Mordecai and Esther, they were in a tight spot. Esther is concerned that approaching the king without being summoned will lead to offending the king, which we know from Queen Vashti’s experience is not something you want to do. But Esther knows too much is at stake to remain silent, so she dresses up in her royal robes and stands just outside the king’s hall hoping to be noticed. Thankfully, he looks upon her favorably and summons her.
Esther asks King Ahasuerus to come to a banquet she had prepared for him and Haman. Both agree to come the next day, and Haman leaves thereafter pleased at the good standing he must hold with the king and queen. Unfortunately, he soon passes Mordecai, and is again angered that Mordecai does not properly honor him. Once home, he confides in his wife and friends, and they advise him to build a gallows from which to hang Mordecai the next day.
That night, the king has trouble sleeping, and he asks that the book of records be brought and read to him. He is reminded of how Mordecai helped foil the assassination attempt against him, and how he had not yet been honored for doing so. He summons Haman, and asks, “What shall be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman thinks to himself, “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?” and offers an elaborate plan involving royal robes, a crown, and a horseback ride through the city square.
You can imagine Haman’s surprise when the king reveals that the honor is for Mordecai, and Haman ends up preceding the processional through the square, announcing the one the king wishes to honor.
Soon after, he arrives at Esther’s banquet. The king wants to grant a petition to his queen, and asks what she wishes. She replies, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me — and the lives of my people. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.” The king asks, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” Esther replies, “A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!”
The king storms off to the palace garden. Haman stays and pleads with the queen, to the point that he throws himself on the couch where Esther is reclining. The king returns to witness this, and interprets it as an assault on Esther. He is so angry he has Haman hung on the very gallows that had been constructed to execute Mordecai. He then revokes the order to have the Jewish people destroyed.
The book of Esther concludes with an explanation of how these events led to the inauguration of the Feast of Purim, which is still observed by many of our Jewish siblings during the month of March.
Like many stories in the Bible, there are both positive and problematic aspects to Esther’s. Among the positives is that Esther and Mordecai are able to save their people, despite being opposed by a powerful man. They use the tools they have at their disposal to outwit Haman and overcome his plot. Among the problematic aspects of the story are the circumstances of Vashti’s dismissal, the rounding up of virgins for the king’s harem (a reminder that “Biblical marriage” is not something to which we should aspire), and the killing of 75,000 people that occurs later in the book.
Despite its appearance among what are called the historical books of the Bible, it is unlikely that the story of Esther is historical. (Collins, 567) It does provide insight into the culture and context for some Jewish people during the Persian reign, though. It is also notable in that it is one of only two books in the Protestant Bible that includes no mention of God. There is no divine intervention that occurs to spare Esther, Mordecai, and the Jewish people. Rather, their survival depends on their ability to navigate the broken systems of their day.
When God is not present — when humans are left to their own greed, fear, and aspiration for power — violence is often the product. I might balk at the mention of 75,000 people being killed in chapter 9 of Esther, but then I remind myself of the body counts associated with our country’s own broken systems of capital punishment and military intervention, and any illusions of modern sophistication slip away.
Sometimes our actions are explicitly violent, and sometimes they occur more passively. Sometimes the stories we tell ourselves lead us down less obvious paths of violence. In Pennsylvania we’ve been told stories that have led us to emitting one percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Practices like fracking lead to impaired cognitive performance, mental illness in children, dementia in adults, premature births, and respiratory diseases. Global warming will create 200 million climate refugees by 2050. (Wallace-Wells, 12–15) Thus our state of 13 million people will be responsible for 2 million people losing their homes, as well as the illness and suffering of millions of others.
How did we get here? By telling stories about lower energy prices, even though the methane produced here is shipped elsewhere by pipelines, trains, and trucks. By telling stories about business growth, even though the fracking companies are not based in Pennsylvania. By telling stories about jobs, even though few go to Pennsylvanians and clean energy jobs are safer and faster-growing.
Meanwhile, a story that is not being told is the one in which financial and other gifts are regularly given to our legislators to keep broken systems intact. I recently wrote to a senator about the damage caused by fracking in our state, and he replied by saying he supports an “all of the above” energy policy, which is a term undoubtedly created by a lobbyist. If I ever have an audience with this senator, I’ll tell him an “all of the above” energy policy makes as much sense as an “all of the above” diet; eating fruits and vegetables and a Big Mac, fries, and Coke at each meal will lead to an early grave.
Fellow sojourners, the stories we tell ourselves are important. As Jesus-followers, we can fully embrace stories devoid of violence rather than stories devoid of God. At the same time, we can also salvage the example of our spiritual ancestors Mordecai and Esther, whose collective gifts, abilities, and bravery led to their survival and the survival of their people. We can exist within broken systems and — when we combine our efforts and allow space for the divine — bring about redemption even against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Works Referenced
Collins, John J. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: Third Edition (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018), Kindle edition.
Death Penalty Information Center. “Facts about the Death Penalty.” Accessed September 25, 2024. https://dpic-cdn.org/production/documents/pdf/FactSheet.pdf.
Fentress-Williams, Judy. “Esther.” In Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The Old Testament and Apocrypha, edited by Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page, Jr., Matthew J. M. Coomber. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014. Kindle edition.
Murphy, Sean. “5 executions have happened over a week’s span in the US. That’s the most in decades.” AP News. Accessed September 27, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/executions-oklahoma-alabama-missouri-texas-south-carolina-d77a31bea7a4839424afc8889c7d8755.
Murphy, Sean. “There are 5 executions set over a week’s span in the US. That’s the most in decades.” AP News. Accessed September 24, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/executions-oklahoma-alabama-missouri-texas-south-carolina-d77a31bea7a4839424afc8889c7d8755.
Rahman, Khaleda. “US Reaches Executions Milestone Amid Declining Support for Death Penalty.” Newsweek. Accessed September 26, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/us-reaches-execution-milestone-death-penalty-1959124.
Von Quednow, Cindy and Holly Yan. “Missouri executes Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors and the victim’s family asking that he be spared.” CNN. Accessed September 24, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/24/us/marcellus-williams-scheduled-execution-date/index.html.
Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2019.
Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs, Brown University. “Costs of War.” Accessed September 25, 2024. https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/WarDeathToll.
